The Savior
by elleecee285
Summary: What if Snow White hadn't gone into labor before she could go through the wardrobe? What if she found Pinocchio on the other side? What if she went through and was able to help Emma? What would have happened if Snow White was there for her daughter?
1. Chapter 1

_Author's Note: Hey everybody! So this is a new story idea of mine and I'm testing it out, so ENJOY!_

_ I do not own Once Upon A Time._

**One-The Beginning**

"Time to go." Charming smiled slightly as he helped his very pregnant wife into the enchanted wardrobe.

"Charming I don't want to do this anymore." She said, grabbing his hand, trying to back out of the wardrobe and the plan.

"Snow, there's no time." He tried to calm her down, knowing there were men searching the castle for them as they spoke.

"I can't do this." She tried again, letting a few tears fall down her face.

"Snow," Charming held her face between his hands. "It will be okay, we will always find each other, no matter what." He finished with a kiss.

"I love you." She said, accepting her fate. "We _will_ find you. I promise." Holding her hand on her stomach as she told him as much as herself. Holding back the tears, she could hear Regina's army ransacking her home.

"I know you will. Be safe." He said before kissing his wife again for the last time. "I love you, both of you."

As he began to close the wardrobe soldiers burst through the door to the nursery.

"Charming!" She screamed as she watched through the not yet closed doors.

"Snow! GO!" She heard him yell as he swung the sword every which way. "GO NOW!" He yelled again.

"I love you." She whispered again, crying as she pulled the doors shut on her family, friends, her kingdom, her home for a very long time.

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"Umph!" She let out as she landed on the ground. "That was more of a slide than a portal." She remarked, quickly looking down at her hands which were still clutching her swollen belly as she was taking survey of the rest of her body before looking around.

Snow looked at the world she was now in. It didn't look much different from the enchanted forest. There were still a lot of trees. As she panned around she did notice one thing familiar about this world.

"Pinocchio?" She asked, looking at what she thought were his eyes and messy hair peeking out from behind a tree. "Is that you?" She asked again, hiding her fear of the wardrobe not working like they had intended.

He just stared at her from behind the large tree.

"Come on out, it's okay." She said calmly, looking at the boy before slowly standing. "Are you okay?" She asked, worried that maybe she hadn't been transported from her home in the Enchanted Forest after all.

" ?" The little boy voiced as he peeked his head out a little more.

"Yes honey," She answered, slowly walking towards the boy. As she got closer she noticed the tears in his eyes. "Are you hurt Pinocchio? Where's your father?" She asked, looking around as she placed her hand on his shoulders.

"Father and I did something bad." He said, beginning to cry. Snow looked down at the little boy as she thought.

"There was more than enough magic in the wardrobe for one person wasn't there?" She asked him, leaning down as far as she could.

"Yes." The little boy said through the tears. "Father told me to. I'm sorry." The little boy cried.

Snow thought for a moment, trying to hide her anger about the situation. She looked at the little boy with tears rolling down his face. She knew she couldn't be mad. She knew Pinocchio's father was just protecting his son, like she was her daughter.

"It's okay." She said in a soothing voice. "Come here, it's okay Pinocchio." She pulled him into a hug.

The two stood silently for a second before he spoke again.

"What are we wearing?" Pinocchio asked, causing Snow to look down at her own attire.

"I'm not exactly sure." She answered, noting the red fitted pants, white three quarter sleeve maternity shirt, gray cardigan, and cream colored flats she had on. She then noticed Pinocchio in a pair of tan colored shorts and a light colored shirt. "But this is not what we left in, is it?" She joked a little.

"What do we do?" He asked her.

"We…well we…" Snow began, trying to think of what they were going to do. "We wait for this little one," she gestured to her stomach, "To grow up and save everybody, and in the mean time we figure out where we are. How does that sound?" She asked Pinocchio, holding her hand out for him to grab.

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"Mary Margaret? August?" A kind looking woman yelled as she got out of her car that had pulled over maybe fifty yards ahead and ran towards the woman and child. The two had found a quiet road not far from where they landed and were walking along it. "What are you two doing? Where have you all been?" She yelled.

The woman reminded Snow of Granny or maybe even Johanna a bit. She was older and plump, her hair was piled on the top of her head, and her face was kind.

"I'm sorry?" Snow looked at the woman as she tightened her grasp on Pinocchio's hand.

"Jeffry and I have been looking everywhere for you two." The older woman said as she hugged the two. "I was beginning to worry about you and your children." She said to Snow as she pulled away.

"I'm…I'm sorry?" Snow asked, trying to be as polite as possible.

"Oh honey, did you hit your head?" The woman asked Snow as she looked for an injury. "It's me, Sarah Hendrix from next door." She introduced herself. "Are you two okay?" Mrs. Hendrix asked.

Snow looked at her for a moment, knowing the woman was sincere. She decided it was best to go with the story.

"I know who you are, I missed what you said." Snow recovered quickly. "We're okay." Snow answered. "We just…lost our way." She said, smiling at the quick explanation she made up.

"Oh you poor dears," Mrs. Hendrix hugged them again. "Well come on, let's get you home." She smiled, pulling Snow and August towards the car. "Dinner was just about ready when we noticed you were gone, it won't take long to finish."

August clung to Snow as they reached the grey sedan. "Is this safe?" He whispered.

Snow smiled before kneeling down as much as possible. "We are going to be okay. I don't know why, but I know that I should trust her." She reassured the little boy. "I have faith."

The two climbed into the car and went home with Mrs. Hendrix.

While they were eating Snow started to pick up on a few things. Somehow, she started to believe that the curse had affected her and Pinocchio, if only just a little. Mr. and Mrs. Hendrix talked about Mary Margaret teaching at a local elementary school, which she was sure August went to. She knew she should trust these people for some reason.

By the end of the meal she had learned enough about her and her "son" that she began to understand more about this realm.

"Good night, thank you for dinner." Snow said to her neighbors.

"No problem darling." Mr. Hendrix said to her.

"Please warn us before you go on that long of a walk again." Mrs. Hendrix smiled. "We'll see you tomorrow I'm sure." She added after.

"I'm sure." Snow smiled, leading Pinocchio to the house she learned was theirs from the dinner. "Okay, she looked down at Pinocchio as they reached the stoop of the townhome next door. "I don't know what to expect, but whatever it is, we are in this together okay?" She offered as she reached for the door.

"Okay." Pinocchio answered as the door opened and they were greeted with a home.

It was a home. A home full of pictures of the two of them, with toys scattered around, and furniture and decorations that Snow knew she would have chosen. It was a home that looked cozy and safe to the two refugees of sorts.

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"Congratulations! It's a girl!" Snow smiled through her heavy breathing at the news she already knew.

"Where are they taking her?" She asked Mrs. Hendrix, who she had allowed in the delivery room with her.

"They are just checking to make sure everything is okay." Mrs. Hendrix smiled.

Snow worried while her baby was away from her, the two minutes the doctors were checking over her seemed like a lifetime.

"A healthy, beautiful, baby girl." The doctor said as she brought the baby to her mother's waiting arms.

The warmth that Snow felt in her arms was calming. Her daughter's face seemed to be the only thing she could focus on at that moment.

"What are you going to name her?" The Mrs. Hendrix asked, admiring the little baby girl.

"Emma, Emma Ruth." Snow answered. "Her father loved that name." She said quietly, reminiscing about her husband.

"It fits her." The doctor told the woman, smiling.

"Should I go get the boys from the waiting room?" Mrs. Hendrix asked Snow.

"Yes, please." Snow answered, continuing to look at her newborn daughter. After a moment Snow heard the door open and looked up to see the nurse leading Pinocchio and Mr. Hendrix into the room.

"August, this is your new baby sister, Emma." Mrs. Hendrix said as the little boy walked towards Snow.

_Please review and let me know if I should continue :)_

_~Elle_


	2. Chapter 2

_Author's Note: Okay, here's chapter two! I hope y'all enjoy._

_ I do not own OUAT._

**Two**

Emma turned one today. One year down, twenty seven to go, if the prophecy Rumplestiltskin told her and Charming was true, twenty seven more long years awaited her, awaited all three of them.

As Snow lay in bed that night she thought about everything. The small party for Emma this afternoon was nice. There were only a few people there besides her, August, and the Hendrixs, who had become what seemed like their pseudo parents/grandparents. Watching August help Emma blow out the candles, Snow couldn't help to smile at her two children. She knew Charming would have enjoyed the small affair very much, watching their daughter toddle around and listen to her make her little noises, and even the smile as everyone sang.

It had been a little more than a year since the three of them had come through the portal to this land, and so much had happened in that year.

"Charming, where are you?" She asked quietly, wishing she could feel his warmth as he held her body close to his own. She could feel her eyes start to fill with tears. "She is starting to look just like you, her hair and her eyes. Everyone says she looks just like me but I'm sure she looks like you. She is just as stubborn as her father too." She smiled a little, almost able to see and hear her husband smile as he answered, "_You are the stubborn one my dear Snow."_ "She is perfect though, beautiful and smart." She continued before starting to lose her composure. "Charming, I can't do this. She's growing up without you, and Pinocchio is growing up without Geppetto." She said to the empty room. "Pinocchio is looking out for Emma, and he's very good at it, but he needs his father, Emma needs her father. I need my husband."

Her eyes started to get heavy as she continued to think. August took care of his sister. Snow watched that day in and day out. He was always there for the little girl when she needed it, and that warmed her heart. The thoughts of her family lulled her to sleep.

The tears kept running down her face as she fell into unconsciousness.

"_Good morning Snow." Charming smiled at his wife. "What's wrong love, you look like you've just run around the castle?" _

"_Charming," Snow said, reaching for her husband. "I had the scariest dream." _

"_What happened?" He asked, holding her closely._

"_Regina cast a curse, and I had to go through a portal to a new realm to save us, and I gave birth to Emma there, and Pinocchio was there, but he had to pretend he was my son in this new land, but you weren't with us, you had to stay behind here when the curse hit." She cried as she shared the story. _

"_That wasn't a dream, darling." Snow heard her step mother say, pulling away from her husband to see Regina not ten feet away. _

"_Snow! I love you!" She quickly turned to Charming to see him being pulled away again. _

"_Charming!" She screamed, reaching for him. _

"_You will never have your happily ever after now." Regina laughed maniacally. _

Snow shot up in her bed, looking around to see her bedroom. As she looked at the clock she noticed it was only four thirty in the morning.

"Ugh!" She let out as she fell back in her bed. Seconds after her head hit the pillow again she heard Emma. Snow got up again and walked into Emma's bedroom. "What's wrong sweetie?" She cooed, picking her daughter up and snuggling her. "Did you have a nightmare too like mommy?"

Snow sat down in the rocking chair next to her daughter's crib and began to rock her baby to sleep, thinking of her dream.

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Snow worried a little as she walked up the steps of her front stoop. Silence. She didn't hear her seven and one and a half year old screaming from inside like they usually were when she got home from work.

"Hey baby girl!" Snow greeted her daughter at the door, quickly placing the grocery bags in her hands down to pick up Emma. "What are you all watching?" She asked, noting the animated movie on the TV and her son sitting on the couch with Mrs. Hendrix.

"Snow White." Pinocchio answered.

"Yes?" Snow answered, not thinking about Mrs. Hendrix still being in the room as she played with her daughter for a moment.

The little boy laughed at the woman he had grown to accept as his mother's mistake. "We're watching Snow White."

"Oh really?" Snow quickly recovered, realizing her mistake, joining her son and neighbor on the couch with her daughter on her lap. "This is my favorite movie."

The four sat quietly watching the movie for a while. She found it strange watching what was supposed to be her, comparing her story to that which was being told on the screen. As she watched, she felt the emptiness in her heart again. She missed her prince, her husband, her Charming.

"Snow!" Snow, Pinocchio, and Mrs. Hendrix heads turned and quickly looked to the little girl snuggled in Snows lap.

"Did she just…?" Snow tried to ask, not able to get the words out. "I must me hearing things…"

"No, I thought I heard her say something too." Mrs. Hendrix agreed.

The three stared at the one and a half year old for a moment before she repeated herself. "Snow!"

Snow quickly stood with her daughter, tossing her in the air in celebration. "She said her first word!" Snow yelled, being joined by her son and neighbor. "She said Snow!"

Snow's heart swelled with the pride of her daughter. Her daughter spoke her first word, and to top it off it was her name, Snow. The smile on her face could not grow any larger as the four danced around the living room.

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"Well, we had an exciting evening didn't we?" Snow asked as she tucked her son into bed.

"Yea." Pinocchio agreed, smiling at his mother. "It was cool how she said snow wasn't it?" He returned a question.

"Yes, yes it was." Snow answered, placing a kiss on his forehead before standing and walking to the door. "Goodnight." She remarked as she turned the light off and shut the door.

Snow went back downstairs and joined Mrs. Hendrix in the kitchen. "Wine?" Snow offered, pulling out two glasses and a bottle of wine. Mrs. Hendrix nodded and took the glass given to her.

"How is the house search going?" Mrs. Hendrix asked after taking a sip of wine.

"Well, there have been a few places that could work in our price range." Snow answered.

Mrs. Hendrix took a moment before responding. "Mary Margaret?" She started, showing the worry in her voice.

"What's wrong Sarah?" Snow asked, noticing the unease in the woman.

"August shared something with me today that made me wonder."

"What's that?" Snow replied as she sipped her wine.

"This is going to make me sound crazy but…well, are you…are you a fairy tale character?"

"What are you talking about?" She asked, taking another sip from her own glass to hide the reaction she wanted to show.

"He told me that he is Pinocchio, and you are Snow White." Snow's stomach dropped.

"That…that's just…" She tried to think of something but was coming up blank.

"Mary Margaret…"

"You know what, I've been thinking lately, you've been spending so much time with August and I feel badly about that. I don't think I'm going to send him home on the bus anymore and he will just come home with me after school."

"Mary Margaret, please don't lie to me."

"I don't know what you are talking about." Snow answered her strongly.

"You haven't aged since before you had Emma." Mrs. Hendrix offered.

"I'm just lucky that way, I guess." Snow replied.

"Your son hasn't grown a bit since before Emma was born either."

"He has a disease."

"No he doesn't."

"We don't like to talk about it." Snow quickly spoke.

"You would have told me in case I needed to take him to the doctor while you were gone." Mrs. Hendrix returned. "And your son reads that fairy tale book Jeffry and I gave to Emma for her birthday to her religiously."

"He likes to read, and the stories entertain Emma."

"He talks about them as if they are real, especially the story of Pinocchio, he even adds little tidbits and details that aren't in that book. He has even pointed to Snow White and Prince Charming in the book and said to Emma 'There is your mother and that's your father.'"

"He's very imaginative, and Pinocchio has always been his favorite. His life hasn't exactly been picture perfect, which is why I think he relates to the character." Failing to come up with an answer to why her son pointed out Snow and Charming in the book.

"You answer to Snow." She said referring to earlier, along with a few other mistakes Snow has made.

"It's a nick name from years ago. My father and mother, even my husband, use to call me that from time to time." Snow responded, knowing her explanation wasn't a complete lie. "He thinks it makes me feel better about everything that has happened when he calls me that."

"Please don't treat me like I'm stupid." Mrs. Hendrix begged. "You aren't from here. I know that."

"We moved here-" Snow tried to respond.

"That isn't what I'm talking about." Mrs. Hendrix cut her off. "And you seem very hurt when somebody says something against any of the fairy tales. Please, tell me the truth."

Snow stared at the woman for a long moment. She was having difficulty deciding whether or not to come to terms and tell Mrs. Hendrix the truth. She couldn't hide it anymore and she knew that.

"You can't tell anyone," Snow said quietly. "Please." She begged.

"Answer one more question please?" Mrs. Hendrix asked, noting the look in Snows eyes as an agreement. "How are you here?"

"My step mother, Regina, who is 'the evil queen,' cursed our land. Before Emma was born Rumplestiltskin prophesized her to be the savior of our land, so to escape the curse while I was pregnant I climbed into an enchanted wardrobe built by Geppetto, who is Pinocchio's father, who is August, that brought me here, which was the day you found me and August walking along the highway. That would explain why I didn't recognize you. August, well Pinocchio, met me when I came through the wardrobe and into your world. Emma is supposed to save us all when she turns twenty eight." Snow said without breathing in between her sentences.

"Well, that is quite a story." That was all Mrs. Hendrix could respond with.

The two women drank their wine quietly for a moment before Snow's head popped up and stared at Mrs. Hendrix for a moment.

"What dear?" Mrs. Hendrix asked when she noticed the eyes on her.

"You turned on Snow White on purpose didn't you?" She accused.

"I don't know what you are talking about." Mrs. Hendrix replied simply, smiling a little before finishing her glass and saying goodbye, leaving Snow awestruck.

_Please review! I'm still not sure if I should continue._


	3. Chapter 3

_Author's Note: Heyy everybody! I'm glad people like this first off! Second off, you will be happy to know this is a LONG chapter (I didn't want to cut it into two chapters) so enjoy! Third, this chapter does jump around a little bit. I didn't want to spend a lot of time with every detail of the twenty eight years (that would just take forever), so I have skipped some years. I also want it said that in the last chapter, it had been a while before Mrs. Hendrix figured it out. And now, without anything else, Chapter three..._

_ I do not own OUAT or any of it's characters. _

**Three**

"August?" Snow walked through the house. "August honey, where are you?" She searched. "Come on, this isn't funny anymore."

Snow searched everywhere for her son. As she walked into his bedroom she heard something in the closet.

"Honey, what are you doing in here?" Snow asked him when she opened the doors to see the small boy huddled in the corner of the small closet.

"I don't want to go." She smiled at the response.

Snow sat down next to Pinocchio and pulled him into her lap.

"Sweetheart we have to." She told him, running her fingers through his hair.

"Why?" He asked her.

"Look at you." Snow began. "Emma is four years old and you haven't grown at all since we got here, not to mention my…aging. People are going to start noticing soon if they haven't already."

"I don't want to though."

"I know, I don't either but we like the new place remember?" She reminded him. "You have a big bedroom and there are a lot of kids around for you to play with, and a school you and I can walk to, and a playground in the back yard to play on."

They sat quietly in the closet for a while before anything else was said.

"Why don't we age?" He asked, breaking the silence.

"Well…" Snow tried to come up with an explanation. "I…don't really know." She finally admitted. "The curse had some effect on us I guess. Otherwise we wouldn't have had the first house, or my car, or school, or money, somehow it gave us all that, but it won't let you and I age."

"It's stupid."

"Watch your mouth…" She quickly warned him.

"I'm not a baby!" Pinocchio yelled at his mother.

"Just watch your mouth please." She warned him again.

"I guess we should go get Emma." Pinocchio suggested, lightening the mood a little.

"We do have to get on the road soon." Snow answered.

The two made their way downstairs and outside to see four year old Emma playing with the Hendrixs'.

"Auggie!" Emma yelled, running for her brother, making the adults smile.

Snow walked over to her neighbors. "Thank you both so much." She told them, fighting the tears in her eyes.

"Keep in touch okay?" Mr. Hendrix told her.

"We will." She smiled.

"I mean it, don't just say you will." He told her, pulling her into a hug. "You are the daughter we never had." He whispered in her ear before letting go and going to say goodbye to the kids.

Snow and Mrs. Hendrix looked at each other for a moment. Each could see the tears welling up in the other's eyes.

Snow was the first to break the silence. "Thank you, for everything." She told her. "For watching the kids all the time, and for the help with the holidays, and…well everything else. I don't know what we would have done without you and Jeffry around."

"You would have figured it out." She answered. "But you're welcome, and Jeffry is right. Keep in touch. He loves those two," She said as they both looked to see the man playing with the two children. "We both do."

"We will." Snow answered, smiling as Mr. Hendrix let Emma and Pinocchio tackle him. "They both care about you two so much, I don't think they would let me forget to."

Mrs. Hendrix pulled her into another hug. "Goodbye Snow." She said, causing Snow to start crying.

"Are you two ready for a new adventure?" Snow asked her children a few minutes later as they headed for a new house, in a new town, in a new state.

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Snow walked down the hall towards the smallest bedroom of their soon to be old house.

"Emma?" Snow said quietly as she opened the door. "Are you ready to go?"

"Uh-huh." The little girl answered.

Snow looked at her newly six year old daughter and tried to stifle her laughs. It was obvious Emma had dressed herself. The little girl had her shoes on the wrong feet, her hair hadn't been brushed yet, and the ribbon on her dress hadn't been tied yet.

"Can mommy help you?" She asked her daughter, not waiting for her answer before crouching down to fix her daughter's dress first. "Where did you find that dress baby?" Snow asked.

"In that box." Emma smiled at her mother. "It's my favorite."

"I know it's your favorite, but it's quite…fancy for today, don't you think?" Snow asked her daughter. Snow, Pinocchio, and Emma went to church with their old neighbors, the Hendrix, last year. That was a dress they bought for Emma for Easter last year.

"But it's so pretty mommy." Emma pleaded.

"I know honey, but why don't we save it for another day." She told her daughter, going to the open box of clothing and pulling out a pair of leggings, a skirt, and a long sleeved tee shirt. "Baby, where are your shoes?"

"By the door." Emma answered as her mother helped her change clothes.

"Do you want me to braid your hair?" Snow asked, watching her daughter nod. "Well get me the hair brush and a pony tail holder please."

"Mommy?" Snow couldn't believe how fast time had gone by. She could remember waking up with her daughter in the middle of the night just days after her birth and now her daughter was dressing herself...or trying to at least.

"Yes baby?" Snow replied as she began to braid the short, blonde hair carefully.

"Are we gonna meet daddy?" The little girl asked with little emotion as she played with a doll's hair.

"What was that honey?" Snow felt her stomach drop as she prayed that she heard her daughter's question wrong.

"Where we are moving to, is daddy gonna be there too?" She elaborated.

Snow's heart broke in two. She dreaded the day that this question would come up.

They had always told everyone that August and Emma's father was in the military. It was always the story that he was deployed, that was the reason he was never around. When they had to move again, they always said he was coming home. They were moving to join him at a new assignment. It was an explanation that did exactly that, explained.

"Not this time sweetie." She said simply, holding back the tears. "Not this time."

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Snow had now thirteen year old Emma and Pinocchio sitting on the couch in front of her ready to share the news the two kids knew was coming.

"Well," Snow began, not able to get much further when Emma interrupted.

"Let me guess, we're moving…again." Emma jumped to conclusions. "Where to this time, your majesty?" She asked her mother rudely.

"Emma, why are you so mean now?" Pinocchio asked in an effort to defend Snow.

"You're the one who says she's Snow White, so wouldn't that make her royalty?" Emma replied sarcastically.

"Because she _is_ Snow White!" Pinocchio yelled.

"Grow up August! Fairy tales are stories! That's all they are!" Emma yelled back.

"_That _is enough, both of you." Snow intervened, raising her voice over the yelling. "Yes Emma, we are moving again. It's getting to be that time."

"The time when everybody begins to notice 'Hey, Emma is the only one who looks her age'" Emma said as she rolled her eyes.

"I know you don't like moving Emma but-"

"It's not that I don't like it mother, it's that I _hate_ it, I hate all of this! I hate uprooting everything every two or three years and starting over. I hate having to make new friends. I hate not being able to say where I'm from because, oh that's right, I DON'T KNOW WHERE I'M FROM!" She remarked before getting up and running to her bedroom, fighting the tears she knew were coming.

Snow looked to Pinocchio with softer eyes. "I'm sorry honey, I know you don't like it either."

"It's fine." He answered quietly. "I'm getting used to it."

Snow sat next to him and hugged him for a moment. "I'm sorry." She said quietly before kissing the top of his head. "I wish I could change this but I can't."

"It's okay, we only have fifteen more years, which is only seven or eight more moves." He told her. "The countdown seems to help."

Snow smiled at the little boy's intelligence. "Okay my little Einstein, have you done your homework?" The silence answered her question for him. "Better get to that then, and I will go see if I can calm your sister down." Snow told him, hoping that the few minutes between the outburst and her going into Emma's room was enough time for Emma to cool off a bit.

"Emma?" Snow knocked before attempting to open the door. "Emma, unlock the door please." She asked calmly, waiting for the small click of the lock. "Emma, please unlock the door." She pleaded once more before she heard it.

"Yes?" Emma asked as she returned to the spot on her bed that she had been sitting on.

"Are you okay now?" Snow asked, sitting in the desk chair across from Emma's bed.

"I guess."

Snow looked at her daughter and felt what she felt. "Emma, what's the matter?" She pleaded.

"What?" Emma continued with the short answers.

"You have never minded moving before, and now you suddenly hate it?"

"We claim to be a military family, and even they have homes, even they have somewhere they can say is where they are from." Emma started. "I feel like a nomad. I don't know where I'm from and I don't know my father, who is supposedly a military man, and I don't have somewhere to call home. The only place even close to home is the Hendrixs', but we haven't seen them in almost two years."

"Emma, we have tried to tell you where you are from and who your father is." Snow told her.

"Mom, please not the 'Enchanted Forest' stuff again." Emma begged.

"Emma, I know you don't want to believe it-"

"The Enchanted Forest is a setting, in a fairy tale, and with all due respect mom, I stopped believing in those years ago."

Snow felt like she had just been shot with an arrow as her daughter said she didn't believe in fairy tales.

"Well, I'm sorry you feel that way Emma." She said quietly before getting up and walking to the door. "But that's the truth, and we _are_ moving again, so I guess you are just going to have to deal with it." Snow finished before leaving the room for her own, the whole time wishing for Charming to be here with her.

_AN: Please review, I love reading them :) Thanks! _


	4. Chapter 4

_Author's Note: Thank you all for the reviews! I am so glad that somebody is enjoying reading this story as much as I am enjoying writing it. I think that was all I wanted to say :) So here is chapter four!_

_ I do not own OUAT or any of it's characters_

**Four**

"Emma what are you doing in my closet?" Snow asked, seeing her daughter digging in the small closet across from her bed.

"I'm looking for those shoes you have." She heard her daughter respond.

"Yes, because that's descriptive." Snow said quietly. "Which shoes?" She asked louder.

"Mom…?" Snow heard as she walked over to the closet. "What are these?"

"What is what, Emma?" Snow replied to her daughter, sitting on her bed as Emma stood and turned to her mother.

"What are these?" Emma yelled at her mother as she held a few of the many letters she had found. Each letter was titled something different and addressed to the same person on the front: Charming. "Emma's first birthday, first steps, first words...first boyfriend?!" She listed off some of the titles on the envelopes as her mother stood in front of her speechless. "What are they mom? Why are they addressed to _Charming_?" She spit the name out.

"Those are your fathers." Snow answered simply.

"Please tell me you are not about to try and tell me that you are Snow White again and that my father is Prince Charming." Emma begged her mother.

"Emma!" Snow yelled. "Would you listen to me for once?"

"Oh my god! Can we please just go back to the time when fairy tales were just stories? Back to when they were supposed to be a beacon of hope, or something just so that this world didn't seem so cruel!" Emma yelled as she threw three or four letters on the floor of her mother's bedroom. "They are stories for god's sake mom! Stories!"

"Emma, please listen to me." Snow tried to reason with her daughter seeing the shoe box she had been putting the letters into, written for Charming since Emma's first birthday, sitting open next to her daughter's feet. "Those are the letters I wrote for your father-"

"My father? Are you serious?" Emma yelled.

"-so that when we are all reunited, he can feel like he watched you grow up a little." Snow finished her sentence through Emma's protests.

"Please don't use the 'your father' excuse! Do you even know who my father is?" Snow felt like she had just been stabbed through her heart.

"Of course I know who your father is Emma." She stated calmly, fighting the tears welling in her eyes. "Your father and I love each other very much."

"Then where is he? Cause I sure have never seen or met him before! If you love him _so much _why isn't he here, with us? Why have I never met the man who caused my existence?" Emma fought through her tears.

"You know where he is Emma." Snow stated with her teeth clenched, feeling her fighting instincts running through her body. "You know exactly where he is."

"Don't!" Emma yelled, storming down the hall to her bedroom.

"Emma!" Snow followed thirty seconds after her daughter, taking the little bit of time to collect herself.

"NO!" Emma yelled as she heard her mother. "I'm not listening to this anymore! I'm done! It's one thing for August to try and convince me that you and him and from a fairy tale world, _he_ is a child after all!" She yelled as she packed clothing into a duffel bag before throwing in her laptop and running to the bathroom. "But it is a completely different for you, a grown woman with two kids, trying to tell her oldest that she is the daughter of two Disney characters."

"You weren't always the oldest, and he isn't as childish as you make him out to be Emma." Snow tried. "You refuse to believe everything else, but you can accept that your brother has spent the last eighteen years as a seven year old? You won't admit to whom your parents are, but you will accept that you are the only one who has aged since your birth. Why is it so hard for you to believe in it all? Think of how illogical you are sounding!"

"Illogical? Mom, listen to yourself! You are trying to convince me that we belong in a fairy tale land with other fairy tale characters! That is the illogical part of all of this!"

"Emma, please just try to believe." Snow pleaded. "You are supposed to be the savior." She added.

"Mom! Stop! Please stop with this 'Savior' crap, I am not 'The Savior' I'm not even a savior." She yelled grabbing her toothbrush and other toiletries form the bathroom.

"Emma, please." Snow pleaded. "Where do you plan on going?" She asked when her brain processed the packed bag sitting in Emma's room.

"Somewhere." She answered as she walked back into her bedroom with Snow behind her. As soon as everything she wanted was in that bag she reached for the keys to the old Honda Snow bought her daughter for her seventeenth birthday on the desk in her bedroom. "Anywhere but here." She finished as she ran down the stairs.

"You can't Emma." Snow tried to stop her.

"I'm eighteen, I can do _whatever_ I want to." Emma shot.

"Emma please don't." Snow cried, attempting to guilt her daughter into staying one more time.

Emma froze at the door and looked back at her mother. "I'm sorry." She stated simply, letting Snow see the pain in her eyes, before walking out.

Emma stood by her car for a moment after shutting the car door, trying to breathe again through the emotions overwhelming her body. She soon heard her brother walk up behind her.

"Emma?" Her little brother asked noticing the bag in her back seat. "Emma, what's going on? Are we going somewhere?"

She turned around slowly and crouched down. "Auggie," She started, wiping a tear from her cheek before placing her hands on her brother's shoulders. "Mommy is…sick." She tried to figure out a way to tell him she thought their mother was insane.

"What?" He questioned.

"Mom isn't at her best right now, so you and I are going to…get her some help, okay?" She tried to reassure him. "Now I need you to get into the car." She pleaded with her brother.

"No." Pinocchio stated simply, knowing exactly what had just happened between his mother and his sister without being there. "She's right Emma."

"August, not now please." She replied as she opened the side door for him.

"Emma!" Snow yelled at her daughter as she came outside. "Leave him out of this." She commanded, not taking a tone like this since she told the guard in front of Regina's cell to leave. "This is between you and me, he is not a part of it."

Pinocchio stared at his sister for a moment. "She's telling you the truth Emma. I believe in you, because I know you _are_ The Savior." He said again before hugging her quickly and moving to stand next to Snow. "She will believe…someday." He whispered quietly to Snow. "Have faith."

"I know." She answered him, being reminded of Charming when told to 'Have faith.'

Emma stared at her mother and brother before getting into her car. She held eye contact with her mother for a moment through the front windshield, hoping her mother couldn't see the tears building again in her eyes. As she looked down at her brother she felt hopeful, of what she wasn't sure, but she felt it.

Emma shoved her key into the ignition and started the car. She couldn't bring herself to look at her little family again before she carefully pulled out of the driveway and drove down the street.

Watching the little Honda fade from her sight broke Snow's heart.

_Please feel free to review! I promise you will (most likely) not see what is coming. :) _


	5. Chapter 5

_Author's note: Wow! Thank you for all the reviews! I hope that you aren't predicting what's happening :) Somebody asked if certain characters would be introduced into this story, while I can't say yet who else will be added I can say somebody we all know is joining the story in this chapter so without anything else..._

_ I do not own OUaT but I do love it :) _

**Five**

Emma stared out the greyhound bus window at everything and nothing.

"Is this seat taken?" She heard, causing her to turn her head.

The man talking to her was only a little taller than her, with shaggy brown hair, brown eyes, and a five o'clock shadow on his face paired with a small beard. He looked like he wasn't much older than her, and his outfit looked comfortable, finished off with a duffel bag that looked to be full of something.

"No, go ahead." She answered, turning to look out the window again as he put his bag in the overhead compartment before sitting next to her.

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you." He told her calmly as he sat down.

"You didn't." She told him.

"Good," He answered. "Neal Cassidy." He held out his hand for her to shake, smiling at her when she turned again.

"Emma." She smiled as she shook his warm, soft hand.

"What no last name, Emma?" He joked with her.

"I'm not telling you my last name, you might be a creep or something."

"I take offense to that." He acted hurt.

"Sorry?" She laughed a little.

The two sat in silence on the crowded bus until it was on the highway and moving.

"So why are you headed to California?" He asked her, breaking the smile.

"Needed to…get away." She answered. "You?"

"Same. What are you running from?"

"I'm not running from anything, I just need a break from everything." Emma told him.

"Which is the same thing as running, so what are you running from?" He asked again.

"My mom wants me to believe in something that can't possibly be true. We got into a big fight over it, and it ended with me packing my bag and driving off to the only place I could think of, the bus station." She answered, realizing she had just shared more than she had wanted to with this stranger. "And why am I telling you this?" She wondered aloud.

"So…you're running away?" He asked her.

"Yep." She said quickly. "What's it matter to you?"

OUATOUATOUATOUATOUATOUATOUAT OUAT

"Alright kid, I gotta go, okay?" Emma said into the phone as she saw Neal ordering the coffee. "I'll talk to you soon."

"Bye Emma, I miss you." She could hear the sadness in his voice as he said goodbye.

"I miss you too." She said quietly before hanging up. She watched Neal standing and waiting for the coffee.

The two had become good friends since their shared bus ride three months ago. They met for lunch or coffee at least two or three times a week, and she was beginning to feel like she could tell him anything.

"Who was that?" Neal asked Emma as she hung up her phone, sitting down across from her and placing her coffee in front of her.

"My brother." She answered, taking a long sip of the hot drink.

"Ahhh…so you're talking to your family again?" He pondered.

"Yea, well, kind of." She answered, seeing the need to elaborate in Neal's face. "I called him last week to ask him a question. Then today, I knew my mom wasn't home from school yet, but he was home with the new babysitter. You should have heard her by the way it was obvious how hesitant she was to give August the phone." Emma smiled. "Plus it's his birthday this weekend and he is still my little brother. I can't let him think I have forgotten about him." She stated.

"Then why don't you go visit?" He suggested.

"NO!" Emma responded quickly, setting her coffee down with force.

"Why not?" Neal asked calmly.

"I just…just no." She told him without an explanation.

"Emma," He looked straight into her eyes. "You can't keep doing to this to them, or yourself for that matter."

"You weren't there, I'm positive she hates me." Emma felt tears warming her eyes. "I basically told her that I thought she was insane, and then I tried to take my brother with me. I tried to tell my brother she was 'sick,' and that we needed to get her help. I can't face her yet, not after that." The tears were rolling down her face slowly now.

"I'm sure she doesn't hate you Emma." Neal answered, taking her hand into his.

"You didn't see her face as I pulled out of the driveway that day." She pictured her mother's face, causing a new wave of tears to form. "I don't think I've ever seen her more depressed, and hurt, and angry all at the same time."

"I doubt that she is still worried about you Emma. I'm sure she is still worried about you if anything." He offered.

Emma just looked at him, feeling the tears still running down her face. How did he always know what to say to make her feel better? She had only known him for three months and she already felt closer to him than almost anyone else in the world.

"So…?" He asked her, taking another sip of his coffee before staring at her.

"So what?" She countered.

"By your silence to my last line of that little argument, I assume I won. So are you going to visit them?" He smiled as he asked her.

"I don't know." She replied.

"Emma, please take it from me, a family is worth so much more than you know." He told her solemnly.

"Says you." She joked.

"No Emma, I lost my mother when I was just a baby, I don't remember her. Then my father left me when I was fourteen, I was still a kid. I grew up without my parents, without a family. A family is not something you can just give up Emma. It's worth more than you know." He told her.

"I'm sorry," She looked at him apologetically. "I didn't know." She said, holding onto his hand tighter.

"Few people do." He looked down for a moment. "Emma, please go back, even if it's only for a few days." He pleaded.

"Neal," She started, trying to decide how to answer. "I'm not sure I can. I really hurt my mother and I'm not sure she wants to see me right now, much less ever again."

"A mother will never turn away her child." He told her.

"Will you go with me?" She returned.

"This is your battle." He smiled, knowing he had won. "But I will take you out with me tonight." He added, standing and pulling her up by their linked hands. "Come on."

"Fine." She allowed herself to be pulled out the door, careful to finish and throw away her coffee.

_Please review! :)_


	6. Chapter 6

_Author's Note: Hi! So, I hit a bit of writer's block this week, but I finally got past it and have finished chapter six (and can I just say, it may suprise you:)) So here you go:_

_ I do not own OUaT _

**Six**

"Mom!" Pinocchio yelled the second he opened the door. "Mom!"

Snow heard him yelling just as she wiped the tears rolling down her face. She was sitting in her bedroom floor surrounded by boxes, unable to get past placing Emma's baby book in a box to be packed.

"MOM!" She heard again. "MOM YOU HAVE TO COME SEE!"

"I'll be there in a moment." She hollered back, hearing the tears still in her voice.

"MOM!" He yelled out one more time.

"I'm coming!" Snow yelled back, showing her annoyance with her tone. "What is it?" She asked, walking into their living room and seeing the front door open and Pinocchio out at the bottom of the porch steps.

"August!" She yelled as she opened the door. "What have you been told about running outside without telling anyone?" Snow scolded as she ran outside and down the stairs to her son.

"But mom-" He tried to plead, pointing to behind his mother.

"No buts." She stated. "You can't just run outside, okay?" She asked him, kneeling down to his eye level.

"That was my fault mom, sorry." Snow froze as she heard the voice from behind her.

"Emma?" Snow looked at Pinocchio, seeing the smile grow on his face. "Emma!" She yelled as she turned and ran to hug her daughter.

Emma was knocked back a little by the force of her mother running into her. "Hi mom." She said, the force of the hug being heard in her voice. "How is everything?"

Snow pulled away and looked at her daughter. "Better." She answered simply. "Much better."

"Good." Emma stared at her mother for a second, seeing Snow's emotions on her face. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry for everything, I had no right to-"

"It's in the past Emma. Let's just forget it happened, okay?" She offered as she hugged her daughter again.

She smiled at the kind-hearted woman who was her mother. It killed Emma a little inside to know that Neal was right: her mother did not hate her for any of it.

"Need any help?" She offered, pointing to the 'For Sale' sign with a 'Sold' sticker in the front yard. "I've been told that I am great at packing movies."

"Oh yea?" Snow jokingly scoffed. "And who told you that?"

"My mom."

"Trying not to damage your ego I'm sure." Snow smiled, wrapping her arm around Emma's shoulders. "Unfortunately for you, August has packed the movies already,"

"Aw man! Really?" Emma whined a little as she pulled her brother into her side.

"You snooze, you lose." August smiled.

"Don't worry, I'm sure we can find something for you to pack later." Snow finished as she led her two children inside. "We were just heading out for some pizza, wanna come with?" She offered.

"Pizza?" Pinocchio jumped with excitement.

"I think I can do that." Emma agreed.

Snow smiled. "Let me go grab my purse and the keys.

As she ran inside, Emma and Pinocchio looked at each other.

"We missed you." He said solemnly.

"I know," She told him, pulling him into a hug before picking him up. "and I'm sorry."

"You two ready?" Snow yelled as she came down the stairs.

"Yea!" The two replied.

OUATOUATOUATOUATOUATOUATOUATOUAT

"Goodnight Emma." She heard as she walked past her brother's bedroom door.

"Goodnight August." Emma replied quietly before walking into the living room. "Hey." She announced herself, careful not to scare her mother.

"Hey." Snow smiled. "What's up." Emma sat down on the couch next to Snow, trying to find how to say what she wanted. "Are you okay?" Snow pondered, seeing the look on her daughter's face.

"Yea, I'm fine, I am, I just…" She started. "I'm sorry." Emma finally was able to get out.

"Emma-" Snow tried to respond.

"No mom, I have to say this." She stopped her mother. "I shouldn't have reacted that way, and I had no right to do what I did. I-"

"Emma, calm down." Snow countered, cutting off her daughter. "It's in the past. Why don't we just pretend it never happened?" She offered. Emma smiled at her mother before nodding in agreement.

The two sat in silence watching TV for a while before either said a word.

"So where have you been living?" Snow asked her daughter.

"In this small two bedroom apartment, a little outside of Sacramento, with my…friend." Emma left it vague, not wanting her mother to know exactly who her "friend" was. She closed her eyes, praying her mother wouldn't ask anything else about it.

"That sounds nice." She heard her mother answer, allowing her eyes to open a little bit.

"It is nice." Emma breathed out in relief, getting up and going into the kitchen for some water.

"So who is he?" Emma froze.

"Who is…who, mom?" She tried to play it off.

"You really thought you could get away with not telling me who he is?" Snow laughed. "I'm not stupid honey. Now, nice try but who is he Emma?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." She smiled almost in defeat as she grabbed a water bottle from the fridge.

"You know you do, so I'm going to ask one time." She said as Emma sat back down beside her. "Who. Is. He." Emma just looked at her mother, all but refusing to admit her mother knew her well. "Where do you think you got that little 'I can tell when somebody is lying' gift you have?"

"Betrayed by my own abilities." She moaned, accepting her defeat.

"Mmhmm."

"His name is Neal, we met on the bus, he isn't much older than me, he's a perfect gentleman, and no we are not together, we are just roommates." She finally answered her mother's question.

"So how long are you back for?" Snow moved past their little argument about Neal.

"What?" Emma questioned.

"How long are you back for." She repeated herself.

"I don't know." She replied to her mother's question simply.

"You're welcome to come with us." Snow offered her daughter. "We're moving to Tornado Alley this time. You always wanted to live there." She remembered the time her daughter said that

_"Let's move to Tornado Alley this time mommy!" Eight year old Emma jumped up and down around her mother in the kitchen._

_"I don't think so my little princess." Snow replied, taking a moment to place her finger on Emma's nose. "Now tell your brother dinner is ready, and the two of you go wash up for dinner please."_

_"But why not? It has such a cool name, and I could be like Dorothy! I would fly around and around a tornado in our house! It'd be SO COOL!" _

_"Are you terrified of anything Emma?" Snow laughed at her fearless daughter dancing reenacting her own version of _The Wizard of Oz_._

_"Nope!" Emma yelled. _

_"Well my little fearless one, go get your brother and wash up please." She smiled as her daughter, seeing Charming in every bit of her._

"Mom, as much as I want to…I think I need to stay where I am. There's just something inside me telling me that I need to stick with the path I'm on. I think if I went with you and August, even though I would be with my family, I wouldn't be happy. Moving across the country just isn't in my cards right now." She looked down as she said everything. "Does that make sense?"

Snow looked at her daughter, finally seeing the grown woman she had raised. Emma was as brave and fearless as her father, as cunning and quick thinking as her mother, and as smart as both of them combined, and Snow was beginning to see that, which made her prouder than anything else had ever.

"It makes perfect sense Emma." She replied.

"So you're okay with me staying where I am, with Neal, in our apartment?" Emma asked her mother hoping the answer was something she wanted to hear.

Snow looked into her daughter's eyes. That look had been one she hadn't seen in a long time, something she hadn't seen since before the curse. A look she had seen in her own eyes once, a long time ago.

"Emma…?" Snow couldn't get much more out of her mouth.

"What? What's wrong?" Emma replied quickly.

"Emma, are you…is there a…did you…" She couldn't finish any of the sentences she started.

"What mom?" She asked again.

Snow finally got control of herself again. "Are you pregnant?" She whispered.

"No!" Emma yelled, looking at her mother like she were crazy again. "I am definitely not pregnant mom." She reiterated.

"Oh." Snow felt stupid for asking now.

The two sat in an awkward silence for a few minutes.

"So, uhm, me staying is…is okay?" Emma asked, breaking the silence.

"Under one condition."

Emma's heart dropped. "What?"

"Don't lose touch, under _any_ circumstances, do you hear me?" Snow all but commanded her daughter as Emma nodded. "If I have to go that long without talking to you again, it may kill me, and God help you if I have to hunt you down."

"Deal." Emma smiled.

_Please review :)_


	7. Chapter 7

_Author's Note: Hello everybody! So I finally got this chapter to where I wanted it (after rewriting it at least twelve times)! And now I'm excited to share it! So here ya go!_

_ Disclaimer: I do not own OUaT._

**Seven**

"You aren't going with us are you?" Pinocchio asked, walking into the bare space that used to be Emma's bedroom.

"What?" She asked, emptying the last few pieces of clothing from her closet into a box.

"You aren't moving with mom and me are you?" He repeated as he sat down below the last remaining pieces of clothes in her closet that hadn't been put in a box yet.

"Why would you think that?" She asked, hiding from the question as she continued what she was doing.

"Most of your stuff is crammed into your car, and ours is in the moving truck." Pinocchio pointed out. "And mom keeps looking at you and trying not to cry."

Emma shut the box softly before looking back at her brother sitting in her closet. "And we continue the age old tradition of sitting in the closet I see." She smiled at him before joining her brother, ignoring the question yet again.

"Well, are you or aren't you going with us?" He asked again.

"I'm not." She told him simply.

"Why?"

"I can't Auggie," She used the name she had given him when she was a baby. "I have to stay where I am right now, but it won't be like it has been lately. Mom made me _promise_ to visit as often as possible, and call every few days, okay?"

"Promise?" He asked her.

"Pinky promise." She smiled, holding out her pinky to him. After they made the ancient agreement she pulled him into her side for a hug.

"Oh good, I was afraid we would forget the closet tradition." Snow smiled as she found her children in yet another closet floor just before moving.

The two looked at one another in fake disgust before turning to their mother and yelling, "WE COULD NEVER!"

"Well scoot over." Snow told them, making room for herself between the two.

"So which of the world's problems have we solved this time?"

"I know Emma isn't coming with us." Pinocchio told his mother.

"Oh." Snow said. "Well this turned sad quickly."

"He's okay with it mom." Emma laughed. "We talked it over, and Auggie knows that I'm not going to be gone gone like I was last time. He even made me pinky promise that I call and visit often, it is no wonder he's your son."

"Well, look who his sister is," Snow added, watching Emma's face contort to a fake offended look. "Now, I think it's time to go you two."

The three of them climbed out of the closet. Emma grabbed the box and followed her mother and brother towards the door, taking one last look at her favorite room of all she had had over the years.

"I love you." She said, hugging her mother a few minutes later as they said their goodbyes in front of the house and her car.

"I love you too Emma." Snow replied, holding back the tears yet again before pulling away and letting Pinocchio say goodbye.

"Bye kid." Emma said, pulling him into a hug also.

"Bye Emma." He told her. "I still believe in you." He whispered into her ear.

OUATOUATOUATOUATOUATOUATOUATOUAT

Emma was sitting, observing everything going on in the train station around her. There were couples walking hand in hand, families together, and people reuniting. Everything made her eyes sting again with the tears she had been crying earlier.

"Emma?" Snow yelled as soon as she noticed her daughter.

"Mom." Emma smiled and whispered, standing to hug her mother as the she reached her daughter.

"Emma, is everything okay, are you okay, what happened?" She asked her daughter, hugging her tightly. The two had just talked on the phone two days ago and everything was fine. It surprised her when she received a call at school from Emma earlier this morning saying she needed to be picked up from the train station.

"I…I can't." Emma tried, not able to get the words out because of the tears running down her face.

"It's okay, everything is going to be okay Emma." She tried to soothe her daughter as Emma cried on her shoulder. "It's okay, just try to calm down." Snow said quietly.

After a minute or two of Emma crying on her mother's shoulder she straightened up and looked at her mother again.

"I'm sorry." She told her mother. "I know you were at work, but I didn't know who else to call."

"Don't worry about it." Snow told her. "Come on, let's go get some lunch." She said, noticing it was only eleven thirty as she led her daughter to her car.

The two were eating at a small diner when Snow decided to ask what happened again.

"Not that I'm not extremely happy to see you, but are you going to tell my why you're here?" She asked her daughter.

"What, I can't come and visit when I miss my mother?" Emma tried to get out of the inevitable.

Snow looked at her daughter with an infamous Mom Look. "Yea, uh huh." She stated, making it obvious she wasn't buying it. "Emma, what happened?"

Emma looked up at her mother slowly. "He…I…we…I don't know." She tried to explain. "I woke up this morning and he was just…gone." She said quietly. "And I couldn't handle being in the apartment, so I left."

"So you two are, were together?" She asked, trying to get Emma to finally admit the two were dating.

"Mom…" She whined at the question. "That is so besides the point."

"I'm just saying, you wouldn't be this hurt if you weren't together."

"Fine. Yes mom." Emma answered with an annoyed tone. "We _were_ together, but I don't think we are anymore."

"Well, what happened? Did you two fight?" She tried to figure it out.

"We didn't have a fight. When I woke up this morning I found a note on his pillow saying 'Emma, I'm sorry. I had to get away before anything happened to you.' Not that that makes any sense at all."

"What would happen to you?" Snow wondered out loud.

"That's the same question I've been asking myself all morning." She answered her mother. "He wasn't involved with drugs or gangs, and we weren't having money problems, and I've never heard anyone talk badly about him, so I don't know."

As Emma finished her meal she felt like talking to her mother was making everything a little better. It had been a while since this happened, and she missed that.

"Wanna go shopping?" Snow asked as she paid the bill.

Emma just laughed at her mother, nodding. "I can tell you are just so depressed that I pulled you from work."

"Well, it's silly to sit at home, and we still have two hours before we have to get your brother." She explained as they walked out to the car. "And we haven't gone shopping together in forever…" Snow whined, making Emma laugh even more.

"Do we really need anything?" Emma said as she finished laughing.

"Do we every really need anything?" Snow countered, starting the car.

"I don't have much money mom."

"That's why I have plastic." She smiled as they pulled out of the parking lot.

"What happened to paying it off?" Emma asked her, still smiling at her mother's childish actions.

"I've been doing that for so long. I just want to spend a little money." She whined again.

"Who's the mother and who's the daughter in this relationship here?" Emma asked, fighting laughter.

"You're no fun." Snow moped.

"Fine," Emma finally agreed. "but you _aren't_ spending a lot."

"Yay!" Snow cheered. Emma could feel her abs tightening as she laughed at her mother's childish reactions.

The two walked through the mall, mostly window shopping in the many stores.

"Mom, why are we going in here?" Emma asked as she was dragged into The Children's Place.

"Your brother needs new pants. He keeps tearing holes in the knees." She explained, making a beeline for the boys section.

Emma strolled in the direction of her mother, taking note of the baby clothes around her. They were all so little. As she walked through the racks she subconsciously placed her right hand on her stomach.

"Emma?" Snow said as she walked up to her daughter. "You…are you okay?" She asked, noticing her daughter's hand.

"Fine." Emma said quickly, pulling her hand away from her stomach and through her hair. "Just thirsty."

"Okay…" Snow said oddly. "Well, I'm ready to go."

Emma and Snow walked out of the store and continued through the mall. Snow took notice of Emma's actions every time they walked past a baby store.

When the two got into the car they were laughing up a storm over anything and everything they could think of. It had been a very long time since the two felt this close.

"Can I just go in and get him?" Emma asked on the way over to the school.

"He's fine, I stopped by his classroom on my way out to tell him that I would pick him up. He should be out in a minute." Snow replied.

"Please? I have to pee really badly." Emma begged.

"They're coming out now." She told her daughter, seeing the kids start filing out the front doors of the small school. "And really Em? This has got to be the third time in an hour, your acting like I did when I was pregnant with you. If I didn't know any better I'd say you were pregnant." She joked as they waited in front of the school.

"What?" Emma almost choked on the drink she had been sipping on.

"Emma!" August yelled as he got in the car. "What are you doing here?"

Snow looked straight at her daughter, noticing the deer in the headlights look. "Emma you're not…are you?" She felt like she had just discovered the biggest secret in the world while waiting for Emma to respond. "Oh Emma."

"What did I just miss?" August asked as he watched his mother and sister stare at each other.

Emma snapped out of quickly. "Nothing! How are you kid?" She smiled. "How was school, learn anything new?" She joked, knowing he hadn't learned something new in years.

"You're so funny." August said sarcastically.

Snow was quiet for the rest of the ride home as he children caught up with one another. She was now the one feeling the weight of the world on her shoulders. As they got home she excused herself and walked into her bedroom, sitting at the small desk near her bay window.

_Charming, _

_I found out some interesting news today: our baby is having a baby. _

_She's eighteen years old, and she is pregnant. How do I handle this? She is still our little girl, the little girl that always asked me to braid her hair, begged me to buy her some leggings for her dresses so she could run around with the boys, and mastered battling with a light saber (which is kind of like a sword) against her brother by the time she was seven. She is having a baby. _

_And what saddens me more is that you won't meet our grandchild until he is ten years old. As if it weren't bad enough that you won't meet your daughter until she is our age because of this stupid curse. _

"Still writing the letters?" Emma asked her mother as she stood in the doorway of her bedroom.

Snow turned around and smiled a little. "I know you don't believe it Emma, but it's all true. I want him to feel like he was a part of your life for a little while at least."

"I know." She replied simply. Emma slowly walked into the room and sat on her mother's bed. "Are you mad at me?" She asked her mother.

"Why would I be mad with you?" Snow felt her heart break a little.

"I'm eighteen, I'm unmarried, and I'm pregnant. This isn't exactly what you had planned for me." Emma explained.

"Emma, I'm not mad." She said softly, joining her daughter on her bed. "Disappointed, maybe, but not mad. It isn't like you meant for this to happen." The two sat in silence as Snow pulled her daughter into her so she could hug her again. Questions started eating away at Snow as they sat quietly. "Is that why he left, Neal, is that why Neal left?"

"He didn't know yet." Emma said quietly, not wanting to look at her mother. "I only went to the doctor to make sure last week, and I wasn't sure how to tell him."

"I'm sorry sweetie." Snow said as she kissed the top of Emma's head.

"I'll be okay I think." Emma replied, feeling like the worries she had this morning left with the many tears she cried earlier. Her daughter's confidence made Snow smile at how much Emma resembled both her and Charming now. "We'll be okay." She whispered to herself as she placed her hand over her stomach.

_Please review! :) _


	8. Chapter 8

_Author's Note: Hey everybody! Sorry this has taken so long, I was out of town last weekend, and school has not been the easiest thing yet. Anyways, here's eight, this is more of a fluff chapter to explain a couple things I guess I haven't explained well. So here you go!_

_ I do not own OUaT._

**Eight**

"We're gonna be okay, right little baby?" She whispered to herself as she looked at herself every which way in the mirror with her shirt rolled up. There was a small bump where her stomach used to be flat, and that amazed her a bit, but it worried her a lot.

"You'll be fine." Emma heard behind her, causing her to jump. "I have faith."

"Mom," She calmed herself a bit. "You and your faith." Emma smiled, taking one last look in the mirror before rolling her shirt down over her stomach again and sitting on her bed.

"It's something we hold dear in our family." She encouraged.

"I think it skipped a generation then." Emma remarked, laying back on her bed as she did so.

"It will all be fine Emma." Snow said to her again, walking over to her. "I'm leaving now." She added.

"Okay, well, don't kill any parents." Emma smiled leaning up on her arms. "I know how crazy they can get sometimes, I've heard my mom's weapon of choice was a bow and arrow back in the day, and my dad was supposedly a wicked swordsman in battle."

Snow just stared at her daughter. "Well, at least your sense of humor is back." She looked at the bright side, still a little upset that Emma refused to believe. "Well, make sure August gets his homework done," Emma cut her mother off.

"Mom, it's Friday night."

"Fine, skip that then, but make sure he has something for dinner, he can stay up until I get home if he wants." Snow asked of her daughter. "And you too please."

"Yes! I get to stay up until you get home." Emma cheered like a small child.

Snow whipped out the mom look again before continuing, "You know what I meant, now I left some money on the counter if you two, or three," She laughed a little at her own joke. "want to order pizza or something. Bye, I love you." She added before shutting the door and yelling goodbye to her son as she walked down the stairs then left.

Emma waited for the sound of her mother's car pulling away before she got up again.

"August!" She yelled out her bedroom door.

"Yea?" Emma heard from down the hall.

"What do you want for dinner?"

"I don't care!" Emma rolled her eyes.

"Not helpful!" She yelled at him, making sure he heard the attitude dripping from her words.

"Ooooh!" She heard her brother yell, then footsteps down the hall, and her door opening. She looked at her brother standing in her doorway.

"Well?" She waited for his idea. "Are you going to share with the class here, kid?"

"Pig out night?" He offered. Pig out night was exactly as it sounded, the two of them got whatever food and candy they wanted, planted themselves in front of the TV with a movie, and pigged out.

Emma could feel the saliva pooling in her mouth. "Yes!" She yelled. "I'll get the keys and money mom left, you get your shoes and a jacket." She commanded, jumping up and running for everything.

OUATOUATOUATOUATOUATOUATOUATOUAT

The car ride home from the pizza place, store, and movie store was silent for a few minutes before either spoke.

"Emma?" Pinocchio said as they stopped at a red light on the way home.

"Mmhmm?" She responded, snacking on one of the mozzarella sticks they had gotten with the pizza.

"Why won't you believe?" Emma stopped mid bite, knowing that with this conversation, the food needed to be set aside. "Don't you want to?"

"It's not that I don't want to believe Auggie," She tried to find the words to explain herself. "It's that I can't, it doesn't make sense, I want to believe it sure, I really do." She felt her heart drop a little with each word. "It would make sense of some things, like why our father has never been around," Pinocchio stopped her.

"Your father." He told her.

"What?"

"We don't have the same father." Pinocchio clarified.

"Right, well, why _my_ father has never been around, or why I don't even know him, why we don't really stay in one place for too long…and you and mom." Emma said the last part quietly. "I just can't find the logic in it."

"You're looking at it wrong!" He told her as if it were a picture hanging upside down. "It isn't something that has to make sense logically, it just it." When Pinocchio said this he sounded wise beyond his years. "Seeing isn't believing Emma, believing is seeing."

"Wow, nice quote from The Santa Clause kid." She smiled.

"I'm serious Emma. You are looking at it from this world's view, why can't you look at his from the other view? What are you going to tell Annie?"

"There isn't another way to look at it." She tried to tell him. "And who is Annie?" She added.

"The baby." Pinocchio answered simply.

Emma was glad that he had warmed up to the idea of her having a baby, he wasn't too happy about it last week when she broke the news to him. The name confused her a little, it was a pretty name but it was so random.

"So, I'm having a girl?" She wondered out loud.

"No, it could work for a boy or a girl." Pinocchio smiled, proud of the name he had chosen for his niece or nephew.

"How?"

"Well, if it's a girl her name can be Ann or Annie, and if it's a boy his name can be named Anakin." His smile grew.

"That's it, you are not watching Star Wars again for a while, and I am not naming my kid Anakin. That is just asking to be made fun of when they are older. Now come on, we got some Lion King, pizza, and candy calling our names." Emma finished the conversation as they pulled into the driveway.

OUATOUATOUATOUATOUATOUATOUATOUAT

"You had pig out night without me last night didn't you?" Snow accused Emma as soon as she came downstairs the next morning.

"Mmhmm." Emma replied tiredly.

"And didn't save anything for me," Snow continued. "Not even a piece of pizza or some m&m's." She was starting to mope a little.

"You can blame your grandchild for that one, I couldn't get enough m&m's last night…on top of my pizza." She smiled a little at her food combination. "Oh and by the way, according to your son, my baby is going to be named Annie."

"Oh, so you're having a girl?" Snow asked before sipping her coffee.

"Oh no, if this little thing inside me," She looked down at her stomach for a second "is a girl, then she will be Ann with Annie as a nick name," Emma started to explain as she pulled the orange juice from the fridge.

"And if the baby is a boy?" Snow encouraged her to continue.

"He will be named Anakin."

"No." Snow exclaimed quickly, almost spitting coffee out of her mouth. "You will not be naming my grandchild Anakin, under any circumstances."

"Oh but I loved that name so much mom." Emma joked, earning a look from her mother. "At least he is getting used to the idea of me being pregnant, not that he has much of a choice." She told her mother, remembering a couple weeks ago when Pinocchio wouldn't even talk to his sister when she told him the news.

_I hope that clears a few things up. :) Feel free to pm me with any questions, and please feel free to review! _


	9. Chapter 9

_Author's Note: Heyy! Sorry this has taken so long, apparently life has decided to throw me every curve ball it can think to throw this past week, but I finally got this chapter finished and how I wanted it! I would like to warn everybody, I do plan on only doing this chapter plus another with Emma pregnant for a couple different reasons: 1)I have never been pregnant, so everything I learn is from online and 2)going through everything could take a while. But back to the present :) many will be excited that I included what multiple people were asking for-a flashback to telling Pinocchio/August about Emma's pregnancy. So I hope everybody enjoys! _

_ I do not own OUaT (unfortunately)._

**Nine**

"He can't do that to you," Snow asked her daughter, looking at the letter that had been forwarded to her daughter. The letter stated that Emma and Neal's apartment would be leased to new tenants within the week. "Can he?"

"He can." Emma replied simply.

"But how?" Snow countered.

"My name wasn't exactly on the lease as a tenant…" She tried to get around the answer.

"What was it on there as?"

"I was more of a…long term guest of the tenant." Emma cringed, waiting for her mother's reaction.

"How?" Snow continued her streak of questions calmly.

"The landlord wouldn't lease anything to me because I'm eighteen and have nothing that could be held above my head if I didn't pay the rent." Emma started. "Neal is a couple years older and has stuff that could potentially be held over his head, so he leased the place and put me on as a guest."

"Okay," Snow fought to remain calm. "Well, when do we need to go get your things by?" She asked her daughter.

OUATOUATOUATOUATOUATOUATOUATOUAT

"Are you sure you're ready for this?" Snow asked her daughter as she pulled into a parking lot. "I'm sure I can figure out the things you need if you want me to just run in and grab them."

"I have to face the music sometime." Emma replied. "I would just leave most of it, but there are a few things I can't part with."

"Okay, well then let's get them and get out of here." Emma heard her mother say as she stared at the window.

This was the building she used to call home because it seemed so warm and inviting, and now it was just a cold, barren structure. Everything was the same, and yet it was all very different. As she led her mother up the two flights she made notice of every little changed detail.

"Here we are." Emma said quietly, sliding her key into the door and opening it quickly. "What the…?"

"What's wrong?" Snow asked her daughter, not able to see past her.

Emma stood still. "It's empty, there's nothing here."

"Are you sure, maybe it's in another room?" She suggested to her daughter. "Let's go check." She said, pushing past her daughter a little and seeing the place her daughter called home four months ago.

"I doubt that." Emma said softly, not wanting to cry now.

"Emma, is that you?" Snow heard from the living room as she walked through the bedroom.

"Sophie, hey!" Emma greeted the young woman. "How are you?" Snow heard her daughter.

"Where have you been?" Sophie asked as she pulled away. "It's been months since anyone has heard from you. I was beginning to think you fell off the face of the earth. But now I can see why you haven't been around." She smiled, noticing the baby bump Emma was trying to conceal with a large sweatshirt covered by a jacket.

"Yea…" She replied awkwardly at first. "I went to visit my mom, oh, speaking of which," Emma said as she saw her mother walking back to join her. "Sophie this is my mother, Mary Margaret. Mom, this is…well was my neighbor Sophie Pennant." She introduced them and the two women shook hands before Emma began to talk again. "Sophie, you wouldn't happen to know where my stuff is would you?"

"Yea, Neal stopped by about a week after you disappeared, packed the place up, and dropped off his keys." Emma's heart dropped. She had come to terms that he was gone a couple months ago, but hearing about him leaving opened the wound again. "He left a few boxes for you with me though. He said that they were things he couldn't just throw away for you." Sophie clarified before running back to her apartment down the hall.

Emma and her mother stood and looked at each other.

"She seems nice." Snow said quietly.

"She is." Emma replied.

The two waited for Sophie. When she came back she had two boxes stacked in her arms so she couldn't see and a third being pushed by her feet. "He said this was all yours."

Emma tore open the boxes as soon as they were placed on the floor in front of her. A gust of relief blew through her when she opened the third box and saw her cream colored baby blanket resting on top of everything. "Thank god." She cried under her breath.

"So are you going to give that to your baby?" Emma froze. "What?" Emma stared at her for a moment, causing Sophie to worry. "Oh crap, did I just…your mom…did she…I didn't… did I...just let the cat out of the bag didn't I?"

"No, I knew." Snow smiled awkwardly.

"I'm five months pregnant, I would hope my mother knew Sophie." Emma tried not to sound rude.

"Oh, well this is awkward." The three stood silently for a second. "I see you're is doing well," She looked at Snow. "So…how is your brother, August right?" Sophie pondered, changing the subject. "I know you were always worrying about him."

"Yea, August, he's good." Emma finally spoke.

"Good!" She smiled. "How did he take the news?"

"He wasn't exactly as excited about this baby." Emma replied, placing her hand on her stomach and looking at it closely, remembering the day she told Pinocchio.

_"August?" Emma was beginning to get worried. She had just told him that she would need him to share the fairy tales he loved so much with her child, and he wasn't taking it well. "Are you okay?" She tried to get him to speak. _

_"You can't have a baby Emma." He finally broke his silence. _

_"Why not?" She felt a bit offended at his statement._

_"You are supposed to be The Savior!" Pinocchio yelled at Emma. _

_"August," Emma felt her heart breaking slowly. _

_"How are you going to save us with a baby?!" He asked her. _

_"Return it." He replied quietly. _

_"What?" Emma asked, not sure if he actually said something or not. _

_"Return it, or give it away, just get rid of it. We need you Emma, your family, your mom and dad, my dad, everybody! You can't be The Savior with a baby, you just can't."_

_"I am not what you think I am, I'm not a savior, I'm not meant to be someone responsible for something like that! If I were responsible enough for that I wouldn't have to be telling you that I'm pregnant." She fired at him. "This isn't what I wanted right now August, but I am not getting rid of it because you think that I am some kind of savior. I'm not."_

_"But you are Emma. You are going to save us all. You are _The Savior_!" He spat at her. _

_"I didn't ask to be!" She finally lost her composure. "And this baby isn't like a pair of jeans, I can't just return it. I'm having this baby August, I'm sorry if that upsets you but it's happening and you're just going to have to deal with it!" Emma stormed off out the door for a walk._

_Please review! :)_


	10. Chapter 10

_Author's Note: Hello! Okay so this chapter is a little short, sorry but I just can't make it any longer. I am super excited to get this one out though! So enjoy!_

_ I do not own OUaT :(_

**Ten**

"Where's my baby?" Sophie called out as she walked into Emma's bedroom, running straight to Emma's now very large stomach to talk.

"Your baby?" Emma asked.

"It's so unfair that your mommy keeps us apart. You are I have a lot of catching up to do when you get out of there." The two had become very close since Emma and Snow went to the apartment two and a half months ago.

"Hi Emma, how are you today? Oh I'm good thanks Sophie, how are you. I'm awesome today, hi there little baby currently residing inside my best friend and making her life a living hell, how are you?" Emma said sarcastically.

"Sorry, it's just exciting, you know I love babies." Sophie smiled, sitting in the desk chair across from Emma who had just relaxed on the bed. "Especially this little baby."

"You want to carry this one around then?" She said gesturing to her stomach. "If this child doesn't let me sleep soon I swear I'm going to go crazy."

"Aww, do we have a future soccer player in there?" Sophie joked. "I wouldn't mind being the aunt to the next Mia Hamm or David Beckham."

"I don't know, but he or she sure doesn't mind kicking up a storm at two in the morning. I swear I haven't slept well in at least a month."

"You still don't know what my god child is? How am I supposed to buy stuff for them if I don't know whether to get boy stuff or girl stuff?"

"Who told you that this was your godchild?" Emma asked her, laughing a little.

"Who else would you choose?" She replied. "I mean, nobody is as awesome as I am, and nobody is going to spoil that baby like I will."

"You forget that the baby has an uncle and a grandmother to spoil him or her too." Emma told her, slowly getting up from her bed. "Now are we going out to dinner or what, 'cause I'm starving!"

"Fine, let's go feed my baby." Sophie smiled, grabbing the keys she had thrown on Emma's desk.

"Yes because you fathered the baby inside of me." Emma replied sarcastically. "Which now means you're paying for dinner!" She yelled excitedly.

"You two are so weird!" August yelled as the two girls passed his bedroom door.

"Love you too August!" Sophie yelled back to him. "We'll bring you back some food…maybe."

"Goodbye girls!" Snow yelled as the two walked out the front door. She was glad to see Emma relaxing a bit for the first time in a while.

OUATOUATOUATOUATOUATOUATOUATOUAT

Emma walked slowly down the hall to Snow's bedroom door. She had just been woken up from a nightmare that left her wanting to cry. As she paused she rested her hands on her now very swollen stomach, fighting tears in her eyes.

"Mom?" Emma said quietly, cracking her mother's bedroom door open to see Snow sitting in bed reading.

"Yes Emma?" Snow responded, not really paying attention to her daughter until she walked in and laid down across the bed, resting her head on her mother's lap. "Emma, what is it?" She asked, shutting her book and setting it on her night stand when she noticed the puffiness and tears in her daughter's eyes.

"What if they're right?" Emma said, still trying to fight the inevitable. "What if they're all right?"

"What if who all is right Emma?" Snow continued.

"Everybody, what if everybody is right when they say I can't do this."

"Emma, you are going to have to clarify for me sweetie." She said calmly, still not sure what her daughter was talking about.

"I can't be a mother." Emma cried.

"Why not?" Snow questioned as she ran her fingers through Emma's hair.

"I'm not cut out for this. I can barely look after myself, how am I supposed to look after a little human being too?" She continued to cry. "I don't know how to change a diaper, or bathe a baby, or feed it. I'm barely Emma, and now I'm supposed to be Mom too? I can't do this."

"You think I knew how to take care of you when you were first born?" Snow asked her daughter. "I barely knew how to function in this new world when you were born. If Mrs. Hendrix hadn't have been there when your brother and I came through the portal, I don't know what I would have done. I'm not even sure you would be alive without her." She felt the tears building up inside of her. "Emma, it will all be okay." She told her daughter. "You will learn all of that stuff just like I did."

The two sat quietly for a little while, the only sound heard being Emma's sobs.

"What if I screw this up?" She asked her mother when she was finally able to calm herself a bit.

"You won't screw this up Emma." Snow comforted her.

"But what if I do?" Emma asked again.

"You won't." She said again.

OUATOUATOUATOUATOUATOUATOUATOUAT

Emma sat quietly as she studied her surroundings. The waiting room wasn't what she had been expecting at all. It was small but cozy, brightly lit with light streaming through the large windows. The chair she was sitting in was far more comfortable than she thought it would be. The atmosphere didn't help with her emotions though.

"Emma?" A woman called out from an office door across from the windows.

"Hello," Emma said as she walked into the woman's office. "How are you today?"

"I'm well thank you, and yourself?" She replied sweetly.

"I'm okay." Emma said shortly.

"Okay, well then let's get started." The woman offered, knowing that Emma was feeling what every other person in her office felt. "Have you put any thought to the type of adoption you wanted for you and your baby?"

_Dun dun dun...cliffhanger! _


	11. Chapter 11

****_Author's note: Chapter 11 is finally here! Thank god! After fighting through exhaustion I finally finished so here you go :) _

_ Disclaimer: I do not own OUaT_

**Eleven**

"You are literally the worst at coming up with names!" Emma laughed at Sophie as they got out of the car.

"What, I think Winston William or Pearl Alicia are good names!" Sophie tried to defend herself.

"I'm naming the child, not giving them a death sentence." A very pregnant Emma countered as they got to the door. "Hey mom."

"August, go play outside please!" Snow yelled to her son in the living room as soon as Emma and Sophie walked in through the back door in the kitchen.

"But what about my homework?" He replied to the strange request.

"You can do it later." She yelled again, waiting to hear the front door shut to talk again. "Emma, what did you do?" Snow asked her daughter, not giving away any emotion as she spoke.

"What are you talking about?" She responded to her mother's question as she went for the fridge. "I was hungry, like I always am now," She said as she looked to her large stomach. "and we couldn't find anything this kid wanted to eat in the house, so Sophie and I went out to find some food."

"That isn't what I'm talking about." She heard her mother say while she looked for something to drink in the fridge.

"Then what are you talking about?" Emma replied, finally finding a bottle of water.

"This." Snow held up a large envelope with the name of the adoption agency she had visited the other day.

Sophie just watched the back and forth between mother and daughter before the envelope's appearance. "Okay, well I can see this isn't a conversation I need to be a part of, so…uhm…I'll call you later Emma." Sophie said awkwardly as she turned and went for the door.

"That was in my bedroom. Why were you in my room?" Emma asked her mother, starting to get defensive quickly.

"I was looking for my mascara, and seeing as you like to borrow it I thought I would just go get it."

"And you couldn't wait for me to get home? Or, gee, I don't know call me? That's the whole point of you getting cell phones wasn't it?" She said, pulling out the small silver flip phone and throwing it on the table as she sat down.

"I have a right to be in there Emma, I pay for this house, and you cannot tell me I can't go into your bedroom. Now what did you do?"

Emma was quiet for a moment. "Why does it matter?" Snow could hear the pain in Emma's voice as she spoke.

"Emma," Snow softened, sitting next to her daughter at the kitchen table. "What happened?"

"You did."

"What? I thought you had made the decision to keep the baby?"

"I did, but then August was reading to the baby, and he started to elaborate on how you," She looked at her mother. "Snow White had to go through the wardrobe so that her baby could have her best chance." Snow could remember that moment clearly but didn't want to say anything because of how touchy the fairy tale life subject was for Emma. "And it made me think that maybe me raising my baby alone isn't giving him or her, their best chance. Maybe my child is supposed to be someone special, someone who changes the world, and how can they do that with me as their mom. Maybe my baby will have a better chance at the future they are meant for with two parents rather than just…me."

Every word was like a knife being driven deeper and deeper into Snow's heart. "Emma, I understand you want to give your baby their best chance at life, but I don't think that adoption is the way to do that." She comforted her daughter. "They will spend their whole life wondering why their mother gave them up. You should know of all people how bad that feels."

"What do you mean?" Emma asked, confused.

"You used to ask me all the time when you were little 'where is daddy?'" Snow explained. "You always wondered where he was and who he was. Do you want that for your baby? Do you want your child to wonder why you gave them up?" She fought for her grandchild. "You used to cry on father's day because you were the only one of your friends who didn't have a dad. Do you honestly want to do that to that child growing inside you?"

OUATOUATOUATOUATOUATOUATOUATOUAT

"It's a boy!" Emma heard the doctor exclaim. "A healthy looking baby boy."

"Oh Emma, he's perfect." Snow told her, smiling at the glimpse of the newborn baby she could see.

"Where is he?" She asked her mother, trying to see around the little c-section tent they made around her lower half. "Where is he?" Emma worried, "He's not crying, why isn't he crying?" She asked her mother, letting the tears in her eyes start to fall. Just then she heard the sound of her son's first cries and felt the relief rush through her body.

"Would you like to see him?" One of the nurses asked Emma.

"Yes, she does." Snow answered for her, taking the baby from the nurse and holding him near her daughter.

"Hello there little guy." Emma smiled through her tears.

"What's his name?" Snow asked her fatigued daughter quietly, not able to take her eyes off of her new grandchild.

"I don't want to name him." Emma's smile turned to a frown quickly.

"Emma, he will always have a birth certificate that says the name you give him." She shared. "You can name him, even if you decide to give him up."

Her face lit up as she thought of the name she had wanted for her new son.

_"Tell me a story mommy." The four year old Emma asked her mother as she was tucked into bed. _

_ "Which one baby girl?" _

_"The one with the kind old prince!" Snow White smiled, knowing the exact story her daughter was requesting._

_"Once upon a time, in a land far far from here live a man and his wife. The two had met and been married after his father, a king, chose her when she spun straw into gold. He was very kind, and she was ill-hearted, taking any chance she could to get ahead in whatever she wanted. The two were not prince and princess, but rather a duke and duchess. That did not please the man's wife though. Now these two had a kind and beautiful daughter who loved to ride horses. While riding her horse one day she happened to save the life of a King's daughter. This king soon married the kind woman and the two families became one. The new queen's mother was always hidden away in her room, but her father had taken a liking to the princess. Each day he would spend his time trying to entertain her while watching her grow and learn. He spent endless hours helping her to grow," Snow noticed her now sleeping daughter and slipped out of the bedroom. _

"What was the name of that kind old man from the story you used to tell me?" Emma confused her mother.

"Excuse me?" Snow responded, bouncing a little with the baby still in her arms.

"The kind old man in the story you used to tell me," She reiterated. "Who's daughter became queen when she saved a princess's life."

"Henry?" She heard her mother ask.

Emma smiled, it was perfect. "Henry, Henry Leo." She told her mother.

"I love it." She told her daughter as soon as it clicked, praying she chose to keep the baby in her arms.

"Miss?" Snow saw another pair of arms reaching for the baby. "I need to take him to the nursery for a little while, and then someone will bring him to the room." She reluctantly gave up the little boy.

_Hello baby Henry!__Please review!_


	12. Chapter 12

_Author's Note: And now, the chapter you have all been waiting for... :)_

_ I do not own OUaT _

**Twelve**

_"Emma what are you doing?" Snow asked as she watched her daughter pick up Henry from the crib. "Where are you taking him?" _

_"He isn't mine anymore." She said coldly, just staring into space. "So he'll have his best chance." _

_"My child." An equally cold and harsh voice said from behind Emma. "Give me my child." The woman walked up to Emma, holding her arms out for the baby. Snow White instantly recognized the woman. _

_"NO! Emma no!" Snow yelled, trying to run to Emma and Henry. She ran as fast as she could and yet never got any closer. "REGINA!" She screamed as she watched The Evil Queen walk away with her grandson. "Regina! Put my grandson down! Put him down now!" She turned around and looked straight at Snow. _

_"Your grandson? Ha! He is my son." She said firmly before disappearing. _

"Mom, wake up, somebody wants to see you." Emma whispered, shaking her mother's shoulder from the place she sat in her bed. She looked through her barely open eyes to see the hospital room and felt relief.

"Yes honey?" Snow answered slowly, rubbing her eyes and her neck, sore from sleeping in the hospital chair last night. "What is it?"

"Say hi, Henry." Emma held her son so that his head was angled towards Snow.

"Hi there baby boy." Snow whisper yelled, excited to see the baby in her daughter's arms. "When did you get here?"

Emma just stared and smiled at her son as she talked. "About ten minutes ago, I didn't want to wake you but I didn't want you to say that I was the reason you had lost time with your grandson."

"Does that mean you've made your decision?" She asked, playing with Henry's tiny little feet. All she could do was pray that this wouldn't be one of the last times she got to play with this little boy.

"I think I've always known what I wanted to do, everything becomes real when it is said out loud. You know?" Snow nodded, her heart dropping as her daughter went on. "I feel like no matter what he is always going to be such a big part of my life now. I mean, I carried him for nine months, I felt him move inside me, I can't just pretend he never existed. I can't forget about him or pretend to for that matter. He's my baby."

"So…what are you going to do?" Snow tried to get her daughter to say it aloud, to make the decision real.

Emma looked away from her son for the first time. "I can't leave without him." She smiled at her mother. "He is my son."

OUATOUATOUATOUATOUATOUATOUATOUAT

"Emma, want to read with us?" Pinocchio asked his sister as he sat down on the floor next to his nephew with her old fairy tale book.

"That's okay kid, I'll sit here and just listen okay?" She responded, not able to pull her body from the spot on the couch she was occupying.

Emma smiled as she watched August read to Henry on the huge dog shaped quilt Sophie had gotten for her godson. Henry was only a month old but somehow Emma just knew he loved hearing August read the fairy tales to him.

"August, if I rest right here, will you be okay with Henry?" She asked him, struggling to keep her eyes open.

"Yea." He replied, smiling. "Have a good nap."

Emma let her eyes shut slowly, watching and listening to her son and brother read the stories of princes and princesses, and knights and dragons quietly. She was never fully asleep, but the rest from her eyes actually being allowed to close for a few minutes was the best feeling in the world at the moment.

The past four weeks had taken its toll on Emma. She would be up with Henry most of the night and watching August for most of the day while her mother was at school getting her class room ready for the next week. She shut her eyes whenever she could, but it was never more than five minutes at a time.

"Emma! Mom!" She was woken up quickly by the screaming. "I think I broke Henry!" She jumped up and closed the distance between them, hearing her mother running down the stairs behind her.

"What happened?" Snow yelled quickly.

"What are you talking about? Why?" Emma, dropping down to her knees by her son and her brother.

"He was on his back then he rolled to his stomach." August cried, causing Snow to laugh as Emma checked Henry over front and back.

Snow pulled her crying son into her. "You didn't break Henry, August." She told him. "Babies roll." She looked over to see her daughter just staring at Henry now. "Emma," She knelt down next to her. "Emma, he's okay. He just rolled, it's not a big deal honey."

Emma stopped and just looked at the baby in her arms. "I know." She mouthed quietly.

"Are you?" She asked, gently placing her hand on her daughter's shoulder.

"Yea." Emma replied, placing Henry back onto the blanket. "I just…I just didn't expect him to roll so soon. He's only a month old, isn't that a little early?"

"Every baby is different." Snow told her, helping her stand. "Emma, have you slept at all in the past few days?" She asked, noticing the bags under her daughter's eyes.

"Yea, I've slept enough." Emma tried to hide her exhaustion. Her mother had just as much on her plate and Emma did, and she didn't want to add anything else to the mix.

"Go upstairs and take a nap until dinner." Snow demanded of her daughter.

"Mom, I'm fine-" Emma tried to refuse.

"Go. Now." She commanded this time. "I'll put Henry in his swing, and August will read to him from the table, the two will be perfectly fine. Now go." Emma finally nodded and headed up to her bedroom to sleep a little. "Alright August, can you read to Henry at the kitchen table while he is in his swing?" She asked her son as she picked up her grandson.

Emma heard the commotion shift rooms as she walked upstairs. She lay on her bed for a few minutes waiting for sleep to come.

_"__He is my son." Emma watched an evil looking woman holding a baby-holding her baby._

_"Henry?" She questioned quickly. "Henry!" She yelled for her baby as the woman took him away. "That's my son! Henry!" She screamed at the woman, unable to move her feet. "You cannot take my son!"_

_"He is my son." The woman said coldly._

_"HENRY! HENRY, NO!" Emma collapsed. "Henry…"_

_A/N: And...? So Emma decided to keep Henry, let me know what you think about this decision! _


	13. Chapter 13

_Author's Note: Heyy everybody! Sorry it's been so long but writers block + last semester of school = HELL! Anyways here is the next chapter, hope you enjoy!_

_ Disclaimer: I do not own OUaT_

**Thirteen**

"Emma you can't leave me. You and Henry have to stay here." Sophie demanded as she watched her best friend load the final boxes into the truck from her seat on the hood of Emma's car. "I won't allow it."

"Sophie, we've been through this." Emma pulled out her mom voice. "Henry and I have to move with my mother and brother."

"Why?" Sophie whined.

"Because we have to Sophie." Emma said as she hopped out of the moving truck. "My mom needs my help with everything."

"Well then I will just have to go with you." Emma heard from behind her.

"And where do you propose you live?" Emma returned. "Because while the house we are renting has large bedrooms, there are only three of them so as it is I'm sharing a room with Henry again. I mean Mom agreed to let me and Henry have the master but I am not sharing a bedroom with you too. And what about your new boo-thing you are _always_ talking about lately? Do you plan on bringing him with you too, because if he comes then there will definitely be no space for anything else in the house and you will _definitely_ not be bunking with me and Henry?"

"Why are you such a party pooper sometimes?" She complained. "I still don't understand why you all don't live in base housing."

"Do what?" Emma replied, forgetting about the back story for a second.

"The base housing, your dad's in the military so I don't get why you don't live on base." She explained.

"Oh! Mom doesn't like the housing on base. It's something about it being too small because of dad's rank, and them not taking into account Henry now that he's here…or something like that." She came up with on the spot.

"But-" Sophie tried to continue with the questions.

"I don't know! She just doesn't like the houses on base!" Emma suddenly yelled. "Okay? Are you done with all your questions now?"

"Emma," Sophie walked over to her friend calmly. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." She replied quietly, holding the tears behind her eyes. "I'm fine."

"Then why don't I believe you?"

"I don't know why you don't believe me Sophie," She answered. "Because I'm perfectly fine with moving…again."

"Emma, joking aside, if you don't want to move then don't, nobody is saying you have to." Sophie tried to relay to her again. "Your mom and August will be okay without you."

"You don't get it Soph." Emma said. "It's not the moving that's bothering me because I've gotten used to the moving."

"Then what is it?" Sophie asked Emma as she watched the tears well up in her best friend's eyes.

"It's the house." Emma finally replied. "I just feel like everything has happened in this house."

"Like what?" Sophie asked.

"It's where I lived while I was pregnant, and where I brought Henry home after when I finally made the decision to keep him. This is where he finally slept most of a night, where he started to walk and to talk here, and now…we're leaving."

"Oh Emma," She heard her friend say as she was pulled into a hug. "The house didn't make those memories for you, you did, with Henry. Now you are going to make more memories in a new house."

Emma looked at her best friend. "Thank you." She mouthed, not able to get the words out.

"Come here." Sophie smiled, pulling her best friend into a hug.

"You can share my room if you want." Emma joked as the two pulled apart.

"Oh please, there would never be enough room for all of us, besides, my plane tickets for major holidays have already been booked."

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"Another house, another life." Emma said to her mother as she fell onto the couch next to Snow.

"I know." Snow told her daughter, lounging on the couch as she looked at the mountains of boxes scattered through her new living room. "Ready to start over again?" She asked as the two lay there quietly.

"Yep, I've gotten pretty good at it over the past few years." Emma answered. "Now we'll just have to teach Henry the method and tricks that go with it." She said, referencing the fourteen month old. "Speaking of which, he surprisingly went to sleep really easily in the new house tonight."

"He was tired after running around in the new house all day." She said, thinking about how Henry ran around like a mad man when they finally got into the new house this afternoon.

"Yea…" Emma replied quietly.

The two sat on the couch quietly for a few minutes unwinding from the craziness of the day's unpacking and moving in.

"Emma," Snow broke the silence.

"Hmm?" Emma replied.

"I'm sorry you've had to become good at starting over." Snow apologized quietly. "This was never what your father and I had intended for you." She waited for a response. "Emma?" Snow said her daughter's name when Emma didn't respond. "Emma?" She said again, looking up and realizing her daughter was asleep. "Well, at least you're sleeping."

Emma woke up to the sounds of plates and silverware scraping together from the kitchen nearby in the colonial style house. She looked around her, realizing that she had fallen asleep on the couch and nobody had bothered to wake her up.

"Henry, eat your pancakes please." She requested. "August!" Snow yelled at her son no more than three seconds later. "How many times have I asked you to please close your mouth when you are chewing? It is very unappealing to see the food in your mouth."

"Sorry mom…" Pinocchio whined.

Emma just laughed as she imagined the scene unfolding in the kitchen. It brought back memories of her mother saying something similar to her so many years ago.

_Please review! I know this wasn't a big chapter plot-wise but i felt like i couldn't skip a bunch of years. Thanks!_


	14. Chapter 14

_Author's Note: Hey everybody, sorry for the long time between updates. Let's just say life got real busy there for a while mixed with some major writer's block, but here is chapter fourteen! :) And good news: I have the next couple chapters planned out in my head so it shouldn't be as long for fifteen._

_ Disclaimer: I do not own OUaT_

**Fourteen**

"Mom…" Emma whined as her mother hugged and kissed her goodbye for the fifth time in ten minutes. "Mom, Henry and I will be fine." She whined again. "You and August will only be a few hours away. I will call if we need anything, and we will visit every other weekend. We already went through all of this." She smiled. "Mom, you're suffocating me."

"I know." Snow replied, finally pulling away from the hug. "It's just that-"

"I promise you, everything will be fine, okay?" Emma told her mother reassuringly.

"How did my baby grow up to be so wise?" Snow asked herself out loud.

"Your 'baby' is almost twenty two now." She reminded her mother. "Now come on, if you don't start the drive now it will be dark when you all arrive, and you hate unloading anything in the dark."

"Fine." Snow agreed. "Goodbye, I love you." She told her daughter before kneeling down to her grandson. "Bye Henry." She cried as she pulled him into a hug. "Grandma loves you." Snow added.

Emma walked over to Pinocchio who was sitting in the moving truck as her mother said goodbye to Henry. "Hey kid."

"Hey." He replied coldly.

"Oh come on," She moaned at him. "You can't still be mad at me for this?"

"No."

"August, I had no choice." Emma tried to explain. "My credits wouldn't transfer properly to any other college near you all. I would have wasted all that work."

Emma had enrolled in the local college soon after they moved in with the hope that her credits would transfer when it came time to move again.

"I know." He continued his cold spell.

"Whatever." Emma stood there, equally as cold until Pinocchio started to warm up to her. "I'm sorry." She smiled sheepishly.

"I know." He smiled back this time. "I'm going to miss you and Henry."

"You know the plan." Emma laughed a little at her mother's deal for her and Henry to stay. "A phone call every other day at least and a visit every other weekend." She smiled.

"Stick to the plan." Pinocchio told his sister.

"Don't worry. I will." Emma told him, pulling him into a hug before adding something. "If you take care of mom for me, okay?" She felt him nod.

"Ready?" Snow walked up to her kids.

"See you two soon. Henry can you say goodbye?" Emma said as she scooped her son into her arms. "We'll stick to the plan August, I promise, just as long as you hold up your end of the deal." She warned him before the door shut.

Emma held Henry and watched the moving truck drive off down the street.

"Alright Henry." Emma said as she looked at her three and a half year old. "Looks like we have some unpacking of our own to do still before dinner."

"Okay!" Henry answered his mother before the two walked into the new townhouse Emma was renting.

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"Henry!" Emma yelled up the stairs. "Henry! Come on, we're running late as it is!" She yelled again, looking at the clock on the stove as she finished packing her son's Super Man lunch box. "Why are we always late on Tuesdays?" She asked herself. "Henry I swear if you don't get your tail end down here right now-" She yelled upstairs again.

"I'm coming mom." He yelled as he reached the top of the stairs. "Stop yelling please."

"Get your shoes," Emma shoed him along as she grabbed her bag and his backpack as soon as his lunch was thrown inside. "I'll meet you in the car." She said as she grabbed her keys before racing down the town home's stairs to the garage. "Henry!"

Henry grabbed his shoes and ran barefoot after his mother. As soon as he was buckled in his mother was driving out of the garage and down the street.

This had been the normal mornings for Emma and Henry for the last eight months. Henry had to be at school by nine and Emma had a class at nine thirty half an hour away from his school.

"This is my last exam and then I swear tomorrow we can take our time to school, okay?" She told him. "Thank god we can stop all this rushing around after this weekend right kid?" Emma asked as they drove towards his elementary school. "After all the hard work, I finally get to graduate." She said out loud, more to reassure herself than to tell her son.

She began to think about all the late nights and early mornings she had endured. Every nightmare and fever that Henry had at two in the morning, keeping her up all night, then fighting exhaustion as she sat through her classes the next day. Emma couldn't believe she had made it, survived everything life threw at her. She thought about how many times she had considered sending Henry to live with her mother and brother, she was glad she hadn't though. Emma thanked her lucky stars that everything was turning out the way it had.

"Yea." Henry replied, still fixing the Velcro on his sandals. "When are Grandma and Uncle August coming?"

"They will be here when I pick you up from school on Friday, and then Grandma Sarah and Grandpa Jeff will be here Friday night." Emma answered as they pulled into the school. "Eight forty, awesome." She smiled as she looked back to see her son swinging his backpack over one shoulder. "Bye, I love you." She said as he opened the door.

"Bye mom! Love you too!" He yelled over his shoulder, fixing his backpack.

Emma watched him walk into the school before pulling away. She couldn't believe that she was graduating from college this weekend and her son was finishing kindergarten. It made her wonder where the last almost six years had gone.

OUATOUATOUATOUATOUATOUATOUATOUAT

"Here's to it all being over!" Emma raised her wine glass at the dinner Saturday night. "Thank god." She added.

"Congratulations honey." Mrs. Hendrix raised her glass, followed by Mr. Hendrix.

"I'm so proud of you Emma." Snow added, raising her glass as well, being followed by the boys raising their plastic cups. "We all are."

"Now, Henry, you and I get to sleep in." She smiled, taking a sip of her wine and smiling as her son drank his soda in unison.

"So when does this new job I hear about start?" Mr. Hendrix asked after a while.

"July first." Emma smiled at the thought of her new job.

"What is it again?" He asked her as the food was being served.

"I got a job with the U.S. Marshalls." She beamed. They all talked about it for a while before Emma felt someone's hand on her shoulder.

"Excuse me everyone," She looked up to see her good friend Nathan standing there.

"Hi Mr. Nathan!" Henry said excitedly.

"Hello Henry. I just wanted to offer my congratulations to your mother." He looked down at her again. "I didn't get to see you after the ceremony today."

"Thank you, and congratulations to you too, Nathan." She replied, smiling at him.

"Well I'll let you all get back to your dinner now. I'll see you soon Emma." He smiled, pulling his hand away slowly before walking away.

"Who was that?" Mrs. Hendrix asked as soon as he was out of earshot.

"That was mommy's boyfriend Nathan." Henry answered for Emma, causing Emma to blush at the way he made it sound like the two were together.

"What?!" Snow choked.

"He's not my boyfriend!" Emma let out quickly. "Just my friend, that happens to be a boy." She tried to hide her face.

The rest of the dinner was relatively uneventful after that.

"Emma?" Snow called out as she walked into the kitchen, seeing the light on later that night.

"Hey, what are you still doing up?" Emma asked her mother.

"I needed some water." She said, walking to a cabinet for a cup and filling it with water before speaking again. "Emma, can I ask you something?"

"Sure." Emma answered, not really thinking much of it.

"How long have you and Nathan been together?" Emma froze.

"We are not together." She stated simply. "We are just friends. Henry didn't understand what he was saying when he said Nathan was my...uh...boyfriend."

"Okay." Snow said skeptically.

"We aren't, mom." Emma said again, noticing the skeptical look on her mother's face. "We aren't'!" She reiterated.

"Okay, well goodnight." Snow said before returning to the guest room.

Emma sat in silence for a minute before making her way up to bed as well.

_Please feel free to review, I love reading them!_


	15. Chapter 15

_Author's Note: I told you I would have chapter 15 out faster, and I am proud to say that I was right. So here you go, enjoy! _

_ I do not own OUaT _

**Fifteen**

"I know it's a little older, but it was just too cute, I had to buy it." Emma told her mother as they looked at her new old yellow VW Beetle. Emma beamed at her new investment in the summer night.

"Is it safe?" Snow questioned her daughter's car.

"Perfectly." Emma smiled.

"I still don't see what was wrong with your other car." She heard her mother say as the two walked back inside.

"It was falling apart mom." Emma answered. "Nathan was literally trying to fix it every weekend, just to get through the week."

"And that won't do the same thing?" She asked.

"Do you want me to go back tomorrow and buy a car that I can't afford?" Her daughter replied. "Or hey, I could always go buy a car that I will hate for the next ten years while I'm paying it off."

"It won't be ten years" She spoke under her breath. "So where is Nathan anyway?" Snow changed the subject as she started loading the dishwasher.

"He is on some assignment." Emma replied, helping clean up. "You only get one of us or the other lately, that's what happens when we share a job."

"Well at least you're finally admitting that you two are together." Snow told her daughter.

"What?" Emma replied, confused as to what her mother was talking about.

"The first time I asked you about Nathan he was just a…oh what was it…oh! He was a 'friend who happened to be a boy' I think is what you told me." Snow told her daughter.

"Mom, that was two years ago." Emma remembered that conversation. "A lot has changed in two years."

"Okay, well, just let me know when the wedding is." Snow joked. "Your father would just love this." She laughed at the thought of her husband wanting to kill every boy that ever laid an eye on their daughter, much less actually date her.

"Mom…" Emma warned, hearing Henry and Pinocchio. "Stop please."

"What?" Snow asked, bringing herself from her thoughts.

"Enough about my father right now, please." She replied, motioning in the direction of the sound of the boys coming inside.

"You still haven't told him?" Snow turned and whispered to her daughter. Emma refused to look at her mother. "Emma!" She whisper-yelled.

"What?" Emma replied in the same volume.

"Why haven't you told him?" Snow asked her daughter.

"Because," Emma started, not sure how to tell her mother.

"Because why Emma?"

"Because…I'm not even sure I understand it all mom." Emma finally blurted out. "How am I supposed to explain it to him when one, I don't fully understand it?"

"Then I'll help you tell him." Snow suggested, not seeing the anger growing inside her daughter.

"And two, I'm not sure I completely believe in it still." Emma continued, saying the last part a little quieter.

"Why aren't you sure you believe in it Emma. Look all around you, the facts are staring you in the face." Snow tried to persuade her. "Your brother and I haven't aged in twenty six years, we look exactly like the characters in the storybook he is always reading, he can tell you anything you want to know about almost any person in that book, what else do you need to know?"

"I don't…I don't know." Emma told her mother. "But look around, this world is different from the one that you supposedly grew up in, look at the world I grew up in. Here fairy tales are just stories that are told to children so that they have hope. It makes it a little hard for me to believe that _that_ is where I'm from."

"He needs to know Emma." She heard her mother tell her.

"And he will, if and when the right time comes around." Emma replied.

"Emma, you have just over two years until you are supposed to fulfill Rumplestiltskin's prophecy. You have to tell him soon." Snow warned her daughter. "If you wait-"

"Mom, that's enough." Emma told her mother as the six year old and eight year old walked in.

"Emma," Snow scolded. "If you don't tell him soon then I will-"

"MOM!" Emma yelled. "STOP!"

"Is everything okay?" Pinocchio asked as he and Henry stared at the two women.

"Henry, go put your shoes on, it's time to go." Emma said as she and her mother stared at each other.

"But mom, its only-" He tried to question.

"Now Henry." Emma all but yelled, causing the two boys to race off to find Henry's shoes.

"Emma," Snow tried to talk again but was cut off.

"No mom." Emma tried to keep her voice even. "He is _my_ son. I will decide whether or not he needs to know about this supposed prophecy that some fairytale character made about me before I was even born. I will decide when he needs to learn about it, if he ever does. Goodbye." She said firmly before storming out of the room.

Snow sat quietly in the kitchen, unable to move as she heard the little bug's engine roar to life outside and drive off.

"Mom," Pinocchio walked in. "What happened?"

Snow felt the tears filling her eyes, wiping away at them quickly to regain her composure. "Nothing." She said calmly.

Both Emma and Snow had the same nightmare about Henry being taken away for the first time in years that night.

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"Mom?" Henry said quietly as he opened his mother's door. "Isn't it time to get up?" He asked while climbing onto the bed next to his mother. He noticed the time on her clock and how she was still in her pajamas. He knew if they didn't get up soon they were going to be late.

"Not today." Emma said after a minute of pulling herself out of sleep fully.

"It isn't the weekend." Henry stated, confused as to why his mother said this.

"No," Emma smiled a little. "It isn't the weekend. You and I are taking a sick day today kid." Emma said as she sat up a little in bed and pulled her son into her side. "How about we have a movie day, deal?" Emma asked her son who agreed happily.

"Henry, we need to talk." Emma said a little while later as they two sat on the couch in the living room in between movies.

"What's wrong?" Henry asked his mother.

"Well," Emma began, trying to think of how to tell her son that her mother and brother were missing. "Uhm, well…" She could feel herself drowning.

"What's wrong?" Emma heard her son ask.

"It's Grandma and Uncle August." She managed to get out before he cut her off.

"Are they coming to visit today?" He asked excitedly.

"No," Emma felt her heart drop in her chest. "Grandma and August, are…well," She couldn't get the words out through the emotion building in her voice. "They're missing buddy."

"What does that mean?" Henry asked his mother.

"Nobody knows where they are." Emma clarified.

"Oh." Henry said calmly, not able to say anything else.

_There you have it! Please feel free to review. :)_


	16. Chapter 16

_Author's Note: And now I seem to be cranking out chapters, but that's a good thing right? Anyways, I really kind of love this chapter, so I really kind of hope you do to! Thank you for all the reviews! And now, please enjoy..._

_ Disclaimer: I do not own Once Upon A Time_

**Sixteen**

"Emma," Nathan calmly spoke into her ear. "Are you okay?" He asked her as the two lay in bed together. Nathan had moved in about seven months ago now to help her and Henry return to as much normalcy as possible, which Emma was very grateful for.

"Yea." She replied softly, not wanting her emotions to slip out.

"It's okay to let your feelings come out every once in a while." He tried to comfort her. "I sure this isn't the easiest thing to cope with, especially with how close you and your family were."

"Are." Emma corrected.

"What?"

"Are, not were." She repeated.

"Emma…" He sighed a little at her correction.

"My mother and brother aren't dead Nathan." Emma stood strong to this belief. "They are missing, there has never been any proof that they were killed."

Snow and Pinocchio had been missing for just over a year now and Emma knew that with each day the odds of finding her mother and brother decreased. That didn't stop her from believing they were still alive somewhere though.

"And what if they find something that proves that tomorrow, or next week, or even next month. Somehow I don't think you will believe it even then." He voiced his opinion, waiting for recoil that didn't come. "Just promise me you won't go insane over this, okay? You still have Henry and me."

"I promise." She half heartedly said before he placed a kiss on her lips.

_"Mom?" Emma reached out to her mother's lifeless body. "Mom." She could feel the tears stinging her eyes._

_"Emma." Snow's face seemed to light up when she noticed her daughter in front of her. _

_"Mom, I miss you." Emma said as the two women hugged tightly. "I need you to come back, please." _

_"Believe, Emma." Snow told her daughter._

_"What?" Emma asked, pulling away slightly to look at her mother's face again. _

_"Believe, Emma, believe." She looked down to see her brother standing next to her. "Please." He begged of his sister._

_"I don't understand." Emma said before suddenly being ripped away from her family. "MOM! AUGUST!" _

_"Well isn't that a shame?" Emma jumped when she noticed the dark haired woman next to her. "A family ripped apart…literally." A smiled grew on her face as she said this. _

_"Leave my daughter alone Regina!" Snow screamed. "She has nothing to do with this!" _

_"Oh but my dear Snow, she does." Regina replied. "Your darling little princess here has everything to do with this." _

_Emma studied the woman for a second before realizing who she was. "You, I used to dream about you taking my son from me. You couldn't have my son, so now you're taking my mother and brother instead?"_

_"Emma!" Snow yelled. "Emma RUN!" Emma looked away just in time to see her mother pushing her away from Regina. Emma screamed as she watched Regina grab hold on her mother's neck and somehow stun her. "Believe." She watched her mother mouth. "Please." _

Emma jolted awake, looking around to see it was all a dream.

She could still feel tears burning in her eyes. Somehow that dream felt like more than that, it felt real to her. She stared at the ceiling contemplating what had just happened while she slept, not sure what to make of it.

"Believe?" She said out loud. "In what?"

"Mommy?" She heard the door creak.

"Yes Henry?"

"It's seven o'clock." He told his mother as he walked over to her. "Nathan sent me up to wake you up and tell you that he and I made breakfast." She could hear the pride in her son's voice with the last part.

"Well then, let's go eat." She smiled, kissing him on his forehead before getting out of bed.

OUATOUATOUATOUATOUATOUATOUATOUAT

It had been a couple of weeks since Emma had the dream but she still couldn't stop thinking about it. "Believe…in what?" She asked herself as she cleaned.

It was a Saturday afternoon and Nathan was out mowing the lawn and doing yard work while Henry was playing at a neighbor's, leaving Emma to mindlessly clean the house.

As she went from room to room she kept thinking of the message and what it could mean. She was clueless to it until she yanked her son's backpack off the back of a kitchen chair and everything fell out.

"Shit." She muttered to herself as she knelt down to pick the contents of the bag up. She began to throw the couple books back when she noticed one of the two larger books wasn't one of his text books. It was her brother's fairy tale book.

"Hey mom!" Henry said as he walked into the house. "You okay?" He asked as he noticed her frozen on the kitchen floor by his backpack.

"Yea!" She recovered quickly, hiding the book behind her as she stood. "What's up kid?"

"I was thirsty…?" Henry said, noticing how strange his mother was acting while he went to the fridge.

"Oh, alright." He heard his mother say while he grabbed a water bottle out of the fridge. "Well, I uh…have a headache…so I'm gonna go lay down. Okay?"

"Okay?" He answered, looking back at his mother strangely. "Feel better." Henry added before going back outside to play.

Emma ran into her bedroom and shut the door, feeling as if she just tried to rob a bank with how hard her heart was beating in her ears. Everything seemed to stop again when she looked back down at the book in her hands as she slowly made her way to her bed.

This book was her child hood. She knew people had been reading these stories to her since the day she was born. She could even remember her sitting in her mother's lap while her brother read the stories inside. She remembered looking at the pictures and imagining her life would be like if she could live in the Enchanted Forest. Every pretending game she had ever played as a child would somehow loop back to this book.

As she lay there she began to read the stories to herself. They seemed vaguer than she remembered though. With every word she read the well of tears grew in her eyes.

"Emma?" The next thing Emma knew, she was being woken up by Nathan. "Emma, are you okay? How's your head?" He asked her.

"What? My head?" She questioned him.

"Henry said you had a headache, something about coming to take a nap." He explained himself.

"Oh, yea, my headache is…much better now." She smiled a little as she felt him pull her back a little so she was laying on him. "Thanks."

"Good book?" He motioned to her lap where the book of fairy tales had been laying.

"Yea." Emma smiled again.

"Isn't directed at someone who is a little younger though?"

Emma looked taken back. "This book is my childhood."

"I don't get it." He told her.

"The Hendrixes gave me this book for my first birthday, granted somehow August ended up with it. Anyway, my earliest memories are of staring at the pictures in here while my brother read the stories to me day after day. This book is different from all the others and he always used to expand on them so much that you could swear that the characters were real people. I used to pretend that I was my favorite princess and run around saving the kingdom from witches and ogres. Somehow, we never got bored of this book, my childhood revolved around this book."

"Who?" Nathan asked her.

"Who what?" Emma replied, confused.

"Who did you used to pretend to be?" He asked. "Which princess?"

Emma smiled at the question. "Snow White."

_You know the drill, please review! :)_


	17. Chapter 17

_Author's Note: Hi! I am so glad so many people are enjoying this story! So I really don't have much else to say so here you go...CHAPTER SEVENTEEN! _

_ I do not own Once Upon A Time...sadly_

**Seventeen**

"Alright kid." Emma smiled as she and Henry sat at the kitchen table finishing their dinner. "I think we can both agree that chicken, pineapple, mushroom, bacon, and onions goes on the list of 'Only If I am Stranded on a Desert Island' pizzas." She laughed.

"I thought it was okay." He argued a little. "I mean, it isn't my favorite but I don't think it deserves the shame of being put on that list mom." Henry was glad he got a strange pizza night with his mom since they had become rare around the time Nathan moved in. He had noticed since then that somehow there always managed to be someone home to make dinner.

On the rare occasion that Emma would get stuck working late, she and Henry would indulge in random topping pizza for dinner. This was a little tradition of theirs dating back to when they first moved out on their own together and they both secretly treasured it. Ever since those days if she was late getting home it was officially declared strange pizza night.

"Alright, fine." Emma agreed, taking a minute to bask in the happiness resonating in both her and her son. She would never admit it but she had missed this tradition. The pizzas weren't always the best but the bonding time she had with Henry over them was certainly something she loved.

After dinner was cleaned up she and Henry found themselves sitting at the kitchen island each grasping a coffee mug full of ice cream.

Emma had been trying to find the right time to ask her son about the book she had found for the past two weeks.

"So," She started as she finished a bite. "You aren't in trouble, but how did you get your uncle's book?"

Henry froze mid bite of ice cream. "You know?"

"I found the book Henry." She told him.

"I wondered how it disappeared then reappeared in my bag." He admitted, finishing his bite before answering. "I don't really know. I think Uncle August put it in my bag that day you and Grandma fought. When you told me to go get my stuff we rushed upstairs. I think that's how I ended up with it."

"What do you remember about that book?" Emma asked her son as she continued to eat her dessert.

"What do you mean?" Henry was confused.

"What do you remember from when you and August used to read it?" She clarified.

"It hasn't been that long since I've read the stories mom." He declared. "I like reading them. Uncle August and I used to read them all the time. I liked how he could tell me stuff that wasn't in the book, about the characters and stuff."

"Yea, he used to do that when he read it to me too." Emma smiled as she remembered some of the details her brother would say. She didn't realize until she was seven that the details weren't actually written in the book.

"He told me a lot about the Enchanted Forest. I can't wait to see it one day." Emma choked on her ice cream when Henry said that.

"What…" She finally managed to say when she could breathe again. "What are you talking about?"

"The curse." Emma felt a little angry at that answer.

"I told your grandmother not to tell you those stories."

"She didn't tell me, Uncle August did and they aren't stories mom, they are real." Henry disagreed, surprising Emma.

"Henry, they are fairy tales." Emma tried to reinforce.

"You should know better than anyone that that isn't true mom." He told her as he finished his ice cream and put his mug in the sink.

"Oh?" Emma watched him. "And why is that?" She asked.

"Because," He started before running out of the kitchen.

"Because why Henry?" Emma yelled after him. She heard him coming down the steps a minute later.

"Because mom," He said, climbing up onto the bar stool again and placing the book in front of her and flipping to a specific page. "Your family, our family is in this book." He pointed at the page he wanted her to see.

Emma looked down at the page he was pointing to. It was the page where Snow White and Prince Charming were looking at each other for the last time before she went through the enchanted wardrobe.

"It's Grandma." He stated.

"Henry, that isn't Grandma." Emma denied.

"Yes it is." He told his mother.

"Okay, for one second let's say I believe, why do you think that is my mother?" She wanted to know.

"Well because Uncle August told me that that is her." He answered smartly. "And look, look at the birth mark that is right behind Snow White's ear."

"What are you talking about?" Emma looked at her son to see him holding up the book and pointing right behind the character's ear. Sure enough she could see a birth mark; the same mark her mother had behind her ear.

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"Emma, honey, what a surprise." Mrs. Hendrix said when she saw Emma at her front door. "What are you doing here?" She asked.

"Nathan took Henry to a baseball game today and I haven't seen you in a while, so I thought I would come and visit. Is this a bad time?" She worried suddenly.

"No, no, come on in." Sarah said as she welcomed Emma in. "How have you been dear? How are Henry and Nathan?"

"I'm good, we all are." She answered.

Mrs. Hendrix studied Emma for a second as the two sat on the couch. "What's wrong?" She asked.

"Nothing is wrong." Emma answered, smiling to try and hide her worries.

"I'm not stupid Emma. I was the one that found your little family on the side of the road that night. I have watched you grow up from the moment you were born." She told her. "I'm a whole lot better at noticing when something is wrong with you then you want to admit."

Emma just looked at the woman who, for all intensive purposes, could be considered her grandmother. She did have a point. Whether they were visiting each other or just talking on the phone, Mrs. Hendrix was always good at figuring out that Emma was worried about something.

"I'm just confused." She finally admitted.

"About what?"

"Well, first this is going to sound really weird."She told Mrs. Hendrix.

"I doubt that." Mrs. Hendrix smiled encouragingly.

Emma began, recalling every detail she could. "My brother used to read me the stories out of the fairy tale book you gave me for my first birthday. He always used to elaborate, which I loved as a kid. Then when I got older both he and my mother would tell me that the baby Snow White and Prince Charming gave birth to was me, which I always ignored. Supposedly though, this baby was prophesized to save all of the fairy tale characters from this curse that Snow White's evil step mother cast. They called her the Savior, and my brother would continuously tell me I was the Savior. I never really listened though and eventually they stopped saying it to me because it would usually cause some big fight, like the one that resulted in me running away from home for a while when I was eighteen. Somehow through everything August ended up with the book, which was fine because he loved it and I didn't need it as much as I thought he did. Anyways, I found my brother's fairy tale book in Henry's back pack. He told me that he thinks my brother slipped it into his bag that night my mom and I fought. He told me about how my brother would read it to him and elaborate on the stories like he had with me. Then he started trying to convince me that I am the Savior." Emma finally finished the recap.

"So…?" Mrs. Hendrix pondered.

"Well, as much as both the childhood me and I both want to believe that I am some fairy tale character destined to save every fairy tale character I have ever known of…I can't." Emma admitted. "I just can't. Which is what that fight was about right before my mom and August went missing."

"Emma, what is your middle name?" Sarah asked.

"What?" She replied, confused as to why that was the first thing Mrs. Hendrix has said after everything she had just told her.

"There is a point to this, I promise. Now, what is your middle name?" She asked again.

"Ruth." Emma said slowly.

"Did you ever eat apples as a child." She asked.

"No, I'm allergic to apples…?" She replied questioningly.

"And I seem to remember you running around a lot as a kid with some sort of fighting object like a toy bow and arrow, or a plastic sword, or even a light saber a couple of times. All of which you could wield quite well in a fight."

"Where are you going with this?" Emma asked after the third question.

"One more question and I promise I will explain. Who was your favorite character?"

"Snow White." Emma answered.

"You've read the stories so you know that Prince Charming's mother, _Ruth_, was shot with an arrow. She sacrificed her life so that Snow White would be saved from a curse that King George put upon her." Emma thought about that part, she had always loved how Prince Charming and Snow White had gotten married for the first time there so that his mother could see.

"Snow White was given a poisoned apple by the Evil Queen that caused her to fall under the infamous sleeping curse. Your mother always said you were allergic to apples, but sweetheart, I don't think you've ever eaten an apple in your life to know if you are allergic to them." Emma pondered that. It was almost as if apples were forbidden in her mother's house while growing up.

Emma was now interested to see how Mrs. Hendrix would explain her being able to fight well. "Snow White's weapon of choice was always a bow and arrow, and from what I've read she was very good with them. Prince Charming was a master swordsman. It would only make sense that the child of Snow White and Prince Charming could fight well." She explained. "And finally, knowing all that, I'm sure you can connect the dots as to why Snow White has always been your favorite." Mrs. Hendrix finished.

Emma sat there thinking about everything Mrs. Hendrix had just said. It was all true, and it all made sense. "But-" She tried to find something to argue with.

"Emma, stop please." Mrs. Hendrix cut her off. "It isn't the easiest thing to believe in, I know. If you don't believe in it think of everybody who you would be letting down if it were all really true, but what have you got to lose if you do believe in it?"

_Please Review! Please :)_


	18. Chapter 18

_Author's Note: Hi! Sorry this one took so long to update, let's just say there have been some family issues causing me to not be able to write. I finally found the time though, so yay! Anyways, a bunch of people have asked what happened to Snow and August and a few have even asked if there will be a chapter showing where they are, well, you won't be disappointed! So without anything else (except the disclaimer of course) here you go, enjoy!_

_ Disclaimer: I do not own Once Upon A Time_

**Eighteen**

**A year and a half ago**

_"Why aren't Emma and Henry going on vacation with us?" Pinocchio asked Snow while she finished packing her suitcase. Snow felt her heart drop. _

_"Well," Snow started as she zipped the luggage up before sitting on the bed. "You know how last week Emma and I fought," She stated. "And the two of them left suddenly." Pinocchio climbed up onto her bed as she spoke. "It seems that your sister is still mad at me." _

_"Why is she mad at you? What did you fight about?" He asked. _

_Snow smiled at the little boy sitting next to her. "What do we always fight about?" She asked rhetorically. "She is scared to believe anything about the Enchanted Forest and the prophecy about herself, and she doesn't want to tell Henry about it. So I told her that we could tell him together and she got angry."_

_"Mom…?" Pinocchio said slowly. _

_"Yes dear?" _

_"I may have done something bad." He looked down at his feet. _

_"What?" Snow asked him. "What did you do?"_

_"I didn't know I wasn't supposed to tell Henry." He admitted. _

_"How much have you told him?" She wanted to know. _

_"I don't know, a lot." Pinocchio finally answered. "We always read the book together." _

_Snow laughed a little at how scared Pinocchio sounded. "It's okay." She said, pulling him into a hug. _

_"What do we do? Emma is mad at you because she didn't want him to know and he does know and now she's gonna be mad at me and-" _

_"Honey, it's okay." Snow calmed him down again. "I will call Emma as soon as we get to the vacation house tomorrow and I'll either try to get her to come up and meet us or we'll meet with her when we get home, okay?" She told him. "Everything is going to be fine." Snow said in an effort to reassure herself as much as him. _

Mary Margaret woke up very confused. She didn't understand why she had just dreamt that one of her students was her son, and not only that but that she felt like she had a daughter, and to top it off a grandchild.

"That was strange." She said to herself before looking at the clock and noticed that her alarm was about to go off. She got up out of bed and started her normal routine: making her bed, showering, eating breakfast, brushing her teeth, and then collecting her things.

Throughout the whole time she was getting ready and eating she couldn't shake the feeling of how real that dream felt. It was like she had actually lived it.

She kept thinking about it while she walked down the street to school, so enveloped in her own thoughts she wasn't paying attention when she felt herself run into somebody else.

"Oh I'm so sorry Mayor Mills! I wasn't paying attention to where I was going." She apologized quickly when she realized who she had bumped into.

"I can see that, Miss Blanchard." The mayor said very rudely. "Try to watch as to where you are going next time." She spat before walking away.

"Miss Blanchard, are you okay?" Her students August and Paige Carlo rushed over to their teacher after seeing the incident.

"I'm fine, thank you." Mary Margaret responded as the two helped her pick up what she had dropped.

"Why does she have to be so mean?" Paige asked.

"I think it's because she wasn't loved as a child." August answered his sister, causing them both to giggle.

"Or maybe she forgets to take her happy pills every morning." Paige added, inducing more giggles from both children.

"Children, now that isn't very nice. What would your mother say?" Mary Margaret scolded.

"Sorry Miss Blanchard." The two of them said, stifling their final giggles.

"Come on, we all need to get to school before we're late." As she walked with the children she thought about her dream again. "August, Paige?"

"Yes?" The two answered in unison.

"I'm sure this is a silly question but you don't happen to have an older sister...who possibly has a child, do you?" She asked them.

"No, Paige is the only sister I have." August answered, confused.

"Why do you ask?" Paige replied.

"I just had a very strange dream last night is all." She answered. "Oh look at that, 8:15 on the dot." She smiled, seeing the clock tower as they reached the front steps of the school.

"Miss Blanchard, that clock always says 8:15." Paige told her teacher as the three walked into the school building together.

"Well then we better hurry so we aren't late." She smiled.

"How can we be late if we beat you into the classroom?" August asked.

"Race you to the room." Paige challenged her brother before breaking off into a sprint with August only steps behind.

"Children!" Mary Margaret yelled out. "August! Paige! No running in the hallways!" She yelled after them before watching them disappear into her classroom.

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"Miss Blanchard, come in." Doctor Hopper greeted her happily. "I was very surprised to get your call, is everything okay?" He pondered as he gestured for her to sit while he shut the door.

"Well, I'm…" Mary Margaret couldn't find the words she wanted. "I don't know, I guess." She finally managed to say.

"Well then let's start with what happened that you decided to come see me?" He offered kindly as he sat across from the woman.

"I keep having these dreams." Mary Margaret told him.

"What's so bad about that?"

"They are very strange." She began. "In one, a man, who I think must me my husband in the dream, is rushing me inside this wardrobe of some kind in what looks to be a baby's nursery. Sometimes I try to get back out and he won't let me, he only helps me back in and then shuts the doors on me. Every time before the doors shut completely though, I see a couple soldiers burst through the doors of the room we are in and kill him." She tells him. "Then in another, I am packing a bag to go on vacation and while I'm doing that I am talking to my son, who, in the dream, is one of my students. And from our talking I get the sense that not only is he my son but that I have a daughter older than him and that my daughter has a son also."

"And are these the only two dreams?" Dr. Hopper asks her.

"No, but those are the two most common." She replies. "They are so real though, and no matter what I do these dreams won't go away."

_Please review! :)_


	19. Chapter 19

_Author's Note: I don't have much to say here, but I do want to say right now that yes I do know that Emma and Henry are a little out of character but since their backgrounds are a little different they can't be the exact same people. With that being said, here is chapter nineteen :)_

_ Disclaimer: My last name is not Horowitz or Kitsis, therefore I do not own OUaT._

**Nineteen**

"Is Henry in bed?" Nathan asked as Emma walked into their bedroom.

"Yea." She answered as she dug through her dresser drawer for pajama pants.

"Emma, we need to talk." He said to her causing Emma to freeze.

"What?" She replied slowly, fearful of what he was about to say.

"I'm being promoted." He declared quickly.

"That's great!" She said as she turned and looked at him. "What's wrong?" She asked, noticing the look of dismay on his face.

"There is only one problem, my promotion, isn't exactly here." He said slowly this time. "I would have to move."

"Where is it?" Emma asked as questions began to run through her head.

"Boston." He answered her.

"Okay…" Emma said, starting to pace. "Well, is it something you want to do?"

"I do want to take the job, yes." He answered her, watching her slowly walk back and forth.

"Then you should take it." Emma stated, stopping her movements. "If you think it's the right thing to do then you need to take this job." She looked at him now sitting on the bed. She thought that was what he wanted to hear, but now she wasn't sure. "Why do you look like that isn't what you want?"

"I want the take the job…" He repeated himself.

"But…" Emma waited for the rest of what he was going to say.

"But…" He mimicked her while she joined him on the bed. "It requires moving…to Boston."

"And what's so bad about that?" Emma asked him as she felt herself being pulled into his side. "I've heard it's a nice place."

"That's what everyone has been saying." He sounded relieved now. "

"What about me and Henry?" She voiced her concerns.

"What about you and Henry?" He replied.

"Well, what if by some chance I can't get transferred to Boston?" She asked.

"You will get transferred." Nathan told her.

"You can't guarantee that. What will Henry and I do if I don't? I mean, we can't afford two mortgages, or even the mortgage here and then for you to rent a place there."

"Don't worry about that because I can all but guarantee that you will be transferred. I have it all planned out." He told her, rubbing her arm while he spoke.

"You want to share those plans with me, please?" She smiled up at him.

"It's simple." He told her, reaching into his pocket.

"Oh yea? How so?" She countered.

He moved down so that his face was just inches from hers before he whispered, "Marry me." He told her, holding up a ring box next to her face. Emma froze, staring at the box he was holding up. "Emma?" He said, staring at her as he started to worry.

"How did I get so lucky?" She said out loud, stirring a smile and small laugh of relief from Nathan.

"I take that as a yes?" She nodded as she smiled just before kissing him as she felt Nathan slide the ring onto her finger.

Nathan and Emma were sitting together closely in the living room the next morning when Henry came bouncing down the stairs.

"When should we tell him?" Emma said quietly when she heard him. "Not that it will change much, but still."

"So…?" Henry said as he stood in front of the two, halting the conversation Emma had tried to start.

"So…what, Henry?" She asked him, not exactly sure what he was doing. She could feel Nathan laughing quietly next to her.

"Yes, Henry." Nathan answered.

"I knew it!" Henry excitedly sat down next to his mother.

"Okay…what am I missing here?" Emma asked the two, looking back and forth between the two.

"There's really no need to tell him, babe." Nathan finally replied to her question. "He already knew, he helped me pick out the ring."

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It had been about a month since Emma and Nathan were engaged and they were now focused on packing up their home in order to move. Emma laughed at the thought of how many times she had moved in her lifetime, a topic that used to be very touchy for her.

"So how many moves does this make for us now, huh kid?" Emma asked as she brought a couple of boxes into Henry's bedroom so that he could start packing. "Henry?" She said as she looked around for the boy she had left on his bed.

"I lost count at five." She heard his voice from the inside of his closet.

"Only five for you, wow." Emma smiled, opening the closet door and sitting next to her son. "I think I'm up to like twelve or thirteen, possibly fourteen." She told him as she slid the door shut. Emma and Henry sat in silence for a few minutes before she spoke again. "Okay, so what's up?"

"What do you mean?" He replied to his mother's question.

"Well, we usually only ever sit in here when somebody has had a bad day, or on moving day. Since it isn't moving day what's going on?" Emma knew her son.

"Well…" Henry started. "You and Nathan are engaged now so you are going to get married, right?"

"Henry if you are about to tell me that you are scared I will forget you because Nathan and I get married or because we ever have more children then-"

Emma was cut off by him. "That isn't it, mom." He smiled. "I know that you won't forget me," He leaned closer to her to whisper. "You love me too much." He smiled.

"They wouldn't take you back when I tried to return you." She joked.

"Mom." Henry whined jokingly.

Emma smiled as she pulled him into her side to hug her son. "I love you too much to even say Henry, I always have, and I always will." She told him, thinking back to when he was born.

"I love you too mom." He told her as he wrapped his arms around her waist.

"So what were you going to say?"

"If you two are going to get married, then when are you and I going to go on Operation Apple?" Henry asked his mother.

"Operation Apple?" She questioned him. "Okay, that's it. You and Nathan aren't allowed to watch the Military Channel anymore."

"It's the codename I came up with." He smiled.

"A codename for what?" Emma wanted to know.

"For finding Grandma and Uncle August, we needed a codename."

"Alright then." She just laughed as she hugged him again.

"Emma? Henry?" The two of them heard Nathan calling out.

"Do we let him in on the tradition?" Emma whispered to Nathan.

"Not yet." Henry told her, opening the door for both of them to get out. "Maybe on moving day."

_Please review! I love to see what you all think!_


	20. Chapter 20

_Author's Note: Hey! Sorry this one has taken me a while again (I was at the beach) but I finally managed to get this chapter out of my head and onto digital paper. So here you go! _

_ Disclaimer: I do not own Once Upon A Time...sadly_

**Twenty**

**A year and a half ago**

_"Mom…where are you going?" Pinocchio asked Snow when they pulled off the highway to soon. _

_"I have to use the restroom, honey." She answered him. _

_"What's wrong with the rest stop we usually stop at?" He looked around the vehicle, nervous about where they were going to stop. He couldn't see anything around them, just trees and road._

_"I really need to use the restroom." Snow told him. _

_"This looks like…" He watched the area around him. _

_"Looks like what?" He heard his mother ask him. "This looks like what?" _

_"How close are we to where we lived when Emma was born?" Pinocchio knew he recognized this place. _

_"About an hour's drive maybe." Snow answered him. "Why?" _

_"This looks a lot like where we came through." He told her as he continued studying the landscape. "A whole lot like where we-" _

_Pinocchio and Snow both felt a small jolt. _

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"Ready to go, kid?" Emma asked when Henry walked down the stairs into the front hall.

"I guess." He replied. Henry took a moment to look around him at his home. It was empty now but it still felt like home and he was going to miss it. "Why are we going to the lake house again?"

"Because it makes moving easier." Emma answered before she started to walk down the stairs towards the garage. "While you and I are there, Nathan and the movers will take everything to Boston for us. Plus, this way, you and I won't be crammed in a small hotel room for the couple nights between houses." She could see the sadness in her son's face. "How about we call it a birthday present to me?" She offered "Does that make it any better?"

Emma's birthday was next week and she had been using that to her advantage lately.

"Alright." He whined. "Where is Nathan anyway?"

"He's putting the last couple bags into the bug for us. Now come on." She told him from halfway down the stairs.

"Emma, I really wish you would take my car." Nathan said when the two walked into the garage.

"I am not letting you take my bug to Boston without me." Emma smiled. "Besides, I hate driving your truck with a passion." She added as she walked around to the driver's side of her car.

"Fine." Nathan said, walking over to Henry. "Hey Henry, can you do me a favor?" He said as he knelt down to see eye to eye with Henry.

"Sure." The ten year old replied. "What's up?" Henry looked at Nathan and nodded.

"Keep your mom out of trouble for me, okay?" He requested.

"I promise." Henry smiled.

"Good man." Nathan said as he held his hand out to shake Henry's. "Oh, and don't worry, I'll make sure you get the best bedroom." He smiled.

"Alright Henry, time to go." Emma called out from the car.

Nathan walked Henry to the car, walking over to Emma's window while the ten year old got in.

"Drive safe." He told her. "I'll see you two in a week."

"I love you." Emma told him before the two kissed quickly.

"Bye!" Nathan said loudly as the yellow bug pulled out of the garage and onto the street.

Both Emma and Henry took a second to look at their house one last time before pulling away.

"So kid, how are we going to pass the time on this road trip?" Emma asked as she drove.

"I spy?" Henry offered, looking out the window to find his first object.

"No." Emma demanded quickly. "You always cheat at that one."

"I do not!" He exclaimed. "What about the license plate game?"

"I can handle that one, how are we playing it this time, alphabet or state?"

"Alphabet back and forth, I'll start." Henry told her. "A on the green Chevy."

"B on the blue Ford." Emma continued.

The game continued on until Henry fell asleep as the car drove neared the lake house.

The lake house was somewhere Snow used to take her little family to every so often to get away. They used to drive up on Friday after school and be home by Sunday night. Even though their vacations were short, they were always valued. Emma knew it would be hard to walk into the lake house again, being that it was where her mother and brother were headed, but she felt it needed to be done.

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Emma could hear Henry pulling something out of his backpack as she walked past his door. "Mom? Will you read with me, please?" Henry requested.

Emma felt her whole body warm up as she smiled. "Of course." She said as she walked back in the room, climbing into the twin sized bed with her son. "What are we reading?"

"Snow White." Henry replied, flipping past a couple of pages in the book on his lap.

She knew why her son love reading this story and it always made Emma feel bad. "I think we could both recite that one by heart, but okay."

The two went through their favorite story together, each admiring the life-like pictures in the book, both picturing their kind, sweet Mary Margaret hiding in the Enchanted Forest, defeating the evil queen, and falling in love with Prince Charming. It was something they both felt made it seem like Mary Margaret and August were still there.

"We're going to find them, right mom?" Henry asked as Emma tucked him into bed. "And then you're going to break the curse and find the Prince and Grandma and Uncle August?"

"Yes we will, Henry." She answered as she kissed him on the forehead. "I promise."

Emma left Henry's room and made her way to the back door, looking out to see the lake. It was somewhere she had always felt safe when her mother brought everyone here. Emma grabbed the cold metal of the door handle and pulled it open, making her way towards the water. She carefully sat down on the old creaky boards at the edge of the small dock and just watched as the water rippled around the pilings.

"Mom?" She heard herself speak. "I need you. I know why you would write all those letters to my father all the time, year after year. It was so you wouldn't feel alone all the time." It all was beginning to make sense to her. "I miss you, and Henry misses you, It's been over almost two years. We all need you." She spoke quietly. Time seemed to slow down around her as she sat there. Nothing seemed like it would ever change. It was like Emma could feel her mother's presence.

"Mom?" Emma heard a voice behind her. "Are…are you okay?"

"Henry?" Emma wiped a tear from her face before she turned and looked behind her. "What are you doing awake?"

"I heard you go outside, but I never heard you come back in." He walked over and sat next to his mother, dangling his feet like hers, watching the water to see what she had been looking at. "Grandma used to tell me this lake was magical, like Lake Nostos in the book. She would always tell me when something was wrong that the lake would make everything better."

"She would tell me that too." Emma smiled, pulling her son into her side. "I don't know how many times I fell and cut my knees or my hands open, that she would say 'Just go in the lake and you'll be fine' and somehow, she was always right, the lake makes everything better."

"I miss her." Henry tried to hold back tears.

"I know kid, I know." Emma felt tears falling down her face as she held tightly to her son. "We'll find them, soon, I promise. We have to."

"Why do you say that?" Henry looked up at his mother slightly.

"Because it's prophesized." Emma stared out in front of her. "On her twenty-eighth birthday she will return and become The Savior." She recited. "I turn twenty eight next week."


	21. Chapter 21

_Author's Note: Hi everybody! I know it's been a little while (sorry) but let me just say, writer's block is a bitch! Anyways, I finally got through it and finished this chapter (and figured out a lot more about the story and where I want it to go-BONUS!) so here you go, enjoy!_

_ Disclaimer: I do not own OUaT._

**Twenty One**

"Henry!" Emma yelled as her son ran past her in the kitchen on his way to the lake. He had run into the house and changed before his mother could stop him.

An hour later, Emma now watched her son running around and playing on the shore of the lake behind the house as the sun set. He seemed so calm and happy as he continued to run in then out of the water's small waves.

"Henry!" Emma yelled out the back door, seeing the happiness in his face disappear as she called. "Henry, it's time to come inside please!"

She picked up a towel from the counter and held it open for him as the ten year old boy made his way out of the water and towards their house slowly. She had hoped the time in the water had given him a chance to calm down, but Emma could see now that it hadn't.

"Mom." He acknowledged her as if the two had never met when he walked inside, taking the towel from her hands and wrapping it around his body by himself.

"Henry," She pleaded as he passed her and walked up the stairs. "Come on, please?" She followed him to the bottom of the stairs. "Henry, will you please talk to me?" He kept going up the stairs "Henry Leo!" Henry froze for a moment at his middle name. Emma rarely used middle names so it was serious when she did. "You will stop this and talk to me. Now." She commanded, seeing him continue to walk into his bedroom. "Henry!"

The door slammed. She stared at it for a moment, hoping that he would emerge again. "Urgh!" She sighed loudly in frustration. "He is so your grandson, mom."

She could almost hear her mother's laugh as she stormed back into the kitchen to clean up the dishes. Before too long the doorbell rang, causing Emma to wonder who would be ringing the bell at this hour.

As she swung open the door she was greeted with someone she hadn't seen in a very long time.

"Emma!" Her name was screamed milliseconds before the wind was knocked out of her while she was spun around the foyer of the house.

"Sophie? What are you doing here?" She said when she could speak again. "I thought you were working in California?" Emma asked, pulling away.

"I was, but then I thought 'Hey! It's my best friend's twenty-eighth birthday this week!' and I mean, how could I ever miss that?" Sophie smiled. "So I called up you beau and begged him to help me figure out how to see you on your birthday, and well, here I am." She held her arms up and smiled again.

"I'm so glad to see you!" Emma pulled her oldest friend back into another hug. "You have no idea how much I needed this right now." She hoped the tears in her eyes were hidden well as the two looked at each other.

It had been almost three year since the two had seen one another last. When Emma and Henry moved the last time, it became harder and harder for Sophie to come visit them or vice versa, they kept in touch through phone calls, but it wasn't the same.

"So where in the hell is my beloved godson?" Sophie jumped quickly.

"Upstairs," Emma pointed to Henry's bedroom door. "but heads up, he's not in a good mood right now." She yelled after Sophie, who was busy bounding up the stairs.

"Henry!" Her voice was heard loudly as she banged on the door waiting for the child to open it. "Henry, open up! I did not come all the way across the country to talk to my favorite godson through a door!" Sophie yelled just before the door was opened.

"I'm your only godson." Henry countered as he opened the door.

"Which makes my choice that much easier!" She smiled as she hugged him. "I missed you kid!" Emma could hear the two talking now before the door was all but shut again.

The front door shut behind Emma. "Leave it to Sophie to be in the house and upstairs before I even get to the door." Emma heard Nathan behind her and turned to wrap her arms around his midsection. "Umph, I missed you too." He laughed at her abrupt greeting. "It's only been a few days, love." Nathan bent his head to press his lips to the top of her head.

"Henry is beyond mad with me." Emma cried a little into his chest. "He's mad with me and I can't even begin to explain why." She felt a little proud of herself about her play on words. She knew why her son was mad, she just couldn't tell Nathan.

"Emma," Nathan cooed her name in an effort to halt the impending sobs. "Emma, calm down. We'll figure it out." He continued, leading her to the couch in the living room.

As the two lay on the couch downstairs, Henry and Sophie talked upstairs.

"Why are you staring at me like that?" Henry asked as the two stood in his room.

"No reason." She quickly replied. "So kid, what's the plan?" She asked excitedly as she bounced into the desk chair in the bedroom.

"What plan?" He replied, sitting on his bed careful to not crush the fairy tale book under his pillow.

"Well, your mom's birthday is in three days. Your mom's _twenty-eighth_ birthday." Henry's face froze as Sophie said that so carefully.

"What do you know, Aunt Sophie?" He asked her quietly.

"I know that a battle is supposed to begin when your mom finds her parent's on her twenty-eighth birthday." She answered nonchalantly.

"How do you know that?" Henry tried to remain calm.

"I have my ways." She leaned forward and quietly said. Henry stared at her for a moment, trying to figure out whether or not to be afraid of her. Sophie could see that on his face. "Don't worry, I'm on your side." She smiled at him again.

"How do you know?" He was curious.

"Let's just say, I've known your mother for about eleven years, and your father for _much_ longer than that." She answered cryptically on purpose.

"You knew my father?" Henry tried not to scream. "What did he do? Where did he come from? What was he like?"

Sophie tried to remember what Emma had told Henry about his father. "We'll talk about him later okay? Right now we should be more worried about how we are going to get your mother to find her parents and fulfill the prophecy."

"I don't know. We spent the past two days trying to figure out where to look." He lay back on his pillows and stared at the ceiling, pulling the book out and placing it beside him.

"And…?" Sophie wanted him to continue as she took the book and flipped through.

"And…nothing. Mom and I came up with nothing." He sighed. "We ran out of places to look."

Sophie looked at the pictures on every page as Henry spoke.

"It's a good thing you have me then." She looked up and smiled.

"What do you mean?" Henry leaned up a bit.

"Because I think I found where your Grandma and uncle went, which should be where your Grandpa is too."

_So? What'd ya think? Any ideas on how Sophie is brought into all this? Comment and let me know :) Until next time! :)_


	22. Chapter 22

_Author's Note: Thank you for all of the reviews! I am so glad people like this! So here's the next chapter :)_

_ Disclaimer: I do not own OUaT, but I do LOVE it!_

**Twenty Two**

"I fixed your kid for you!" Sophie smiled as she walked down the stairs again seeing Emma alone on the couch with a glass of wine. "Well not that _fixed _fixed…but you know what I mean." She joked. "Where's the beau?"

"Oh good, you had me worried I would never be a grandmother." Emma smiled, holding up a second glass of wine to her. "He went to look at the view." She pointed to the back door.

"Emma," Sophie's face got serious for a moment after taking the glass. "What did you tell him about Neal?"

Emma's faced showed her confusion. "Nathan? Not much other than that he fathered Henry. I think I told him-"

Sophie stopped Emma from continuing. "No, Henry. What does he know about his father?"

"Why?" She asked slowly, scared for where this conversation was going.

"He was asking me what I knew about Neal. If I knew him or had remembered you telling me anything." Sophie offered calmly.

"What did you tell him?" Emma asked quickly, looking between her best friend beside her, the back door leading to where her fiancée was, and the stairs leading to her son.

"I couldn't remember what you had told him, so I told him that was something he needed to talk to you about." She said, not giving away much more.

"Sophie," Emma could feel the tears welling up in her eyes. "I can't…I can't tell him much about Neal. I don't even know all that much anymore, I mean we were only together for a little while and then he was gone. You could probably tell him more than I could ever-"

"Emma-" Sophie tried to speak, but was cut off herself.

"Time to crack open the wine…except you already did. Anyone need more then?" Nathan offered, walking inside.

"Yes!" Sophie answered a little too quickly, giving Emma more time to pull herself together. "I'll help you!" She jumped up, grabbing their glasses and running into the kitchen after him.

"Mom, I can't do this." Emma whispered, trying to breathe through the tears.

"Emma?" Nathan called, waving his hand in front of her eyes. "You okay?" He asked her, noticing the remnants of tears in her eyes.

"Yea." She smiled quickly, reaching for her glass in his hand. "I must have zoned out."

OUATOUATOUATOUATOUATOUATOUATOUAT

"Morning kid." Emma mumbled as she walked into the kitchen the next morning, scrounging around for coffee.

"Cabinet next to the stove, mom." Henry offered when he heard her search as he reread the fairy tales again for the third time since his talk with Sophie last night.

Emma smiled as she found the coffee and made some. "I _love_ you kid." She told him throwing her hands in the air while she spoke. She waited for her mug to be full before speaking again. "So how long have you been up?"

"An hour, maybe." He replied shortly. "Where's Nathan?"

"Still sleeping, he was tired from the driving yesterday." Emma answered, sitting next to him.

"Oh yea…_from driving._" Sophie giggled as she walked into the kitchen. Emma turned and gave her a death stare as Sophie poured her coffee before turning and leaning on the counter and looking at her best friend. "Emma, you look a little tired, did you have a rough time sleeping last night?"

"Sophie, you know where you should enjoy your coffee?" Emma smiled a little too sweetly.

"Where's that?" She asked, sipping from her mug.

"Not. here." Emma smugly turned back to her coffee, hearing Sophie's footsteps as she walked out. Like clockwork the two made sure to laugh a bit so it was known neither was mad.

"I swear you could recite that book better than August could by now." Emma laughed with her son, seeing the book next to his cereal bowl. "I don't get why you reread it so much."

"I'm trying to find something." Henry told her.

The two sat silent for a moment, Henry studying and Emma trying to figure out whether or not to bring up his father.

"If you're looking for your dad," She asked him as she raised the coffee mug to her mouth for another sip. "He isn't going to be in there."

"Who is my father?" Henry asked, afraid to look up to see his mother's face.

"Why Henry?" Emma fought against her broken heart. "Why does it matter so much?"

"I need to know. It's important." He said strongly.

"Henry, why is it so important?" She asked him, preparing to tell him everything she had prepped for when this day came. "Why do you need to know?"

"It might help me figure something out." Henry said, paging through the book again.

"What?" Emma tried to find out what Henry was doing. "Henry, he isn't in that book, he isn't from that world. I checked." Emma remembered looking through the book a few weeks after Neal left. She recalled flipping through each page so carefully that she could tell you where every rip and fold was, just trying to find him again.

"Your world." He corrected her, pulling Emma from her memories. "Aunt Sophie knows by the way."

"WHAT?!" Henry reacted just in time to see his mother almost spit out her coffee.

"Good morning." Nathan said as he walked into the kitchen, pouring himself a cup of coffee.

Emma and Henry locked eyes with each other, both able to tell what the other was thinking.

_Did he…?_ Emma mouthed to Henry.

_I don't know._ Henry mouthed back.

"Okay, what am I missing?" He asked, sitting at the table with the other two.

"Nothing!" Emma and Henry yelled at the same time.

"Alright then." Nathan said quietly.

Sophie walked back into the kitchen again."Hey!" Emma stared at her, following her as she walked over to the table and sat down.

"Sophie." She tried not to seethe. "Why do you look all done up all of a sudden?"

"I am going to the store, I was going to see if anybody wanted to go with me, Henry?" She slyly invited him. "I thought we could work on birthday plans?" She whispered.

"Can I mom?" Henry asked her, halfway out of her chair already.

"Yea that's fine honey, keep the birthday surprises to a minimum though, okay?" She smiled at her son, watching him run upstairs to get dressed.

"And if I could borrow somebody's car since…well I'm carless up here." Sophie held her hands out like a beggar woman.

"Sophie, my keys are in my purse in my bedroom if you want to go get them, just don't wreck my car." Emma waved her hand waiting for Sophie to leave the room.

"Wow, did you just let Sophie borrow your car?" Nathan joked. "You don't even let me borrow your car unless it's an emergency."

"Nathan," Emma had made a decision, everybody else in this house knew about her twenty eighth birthday, some maybe more than others, but it was time for all of them to be included. "We need to talk."

_Please review :)_


	23. Chapter 23

_Author's Note: Well, this is a LONG chapter, but that is good since it took me a little bit longer to be inspired to write it. So here you go! Enjoy!_

_ Disclaimer: I do not own OUaT_

**Twenty Three**

"So what's the plan?" Henry asked as the yellow bug made it's way to the store.

"First, I figure out how to drive your mom's car without crashing it." She joked, stalling the manual transmission of the beetle out for the third time. "I definitely should have pushed for Nathan's SUV."

He watched his godmother driving the car with a smile on his face. Henry remembered his mother being the same way when she first bought the car. "And then…?"

"And then…well…I got nothing." Sophie smiled, managing to just barely escape stalling the car out again. "I hate manuals!" She yelled out in frustration.

"I thought you had a plan." Henry moaned, throwing his head back into the headrest. "You said you had one."

"Henry," Sophie said in a matter-of-fact tone as they pulled up to a stop light. "When have you ever known me to not have a plan?"

"Always. You like to wing it." The boy answered with no emotion at all, head still where he had thrown it and eyes closed.

"Wow. Thanks for that vote of confidence." She said coldly as the light turned green. "Well," She began again when it was obvious that the boy she loved as her own son wasn't going to say anything. "I have a plan this time…kind of. She believes in everything right?" Sophie knew the answer but still asked the question. She had watched her best friend go through the stages, whether Emma knew it or not, of believing in her past and her heritage.

Henry looked at her as she carefully pulled into the parking space far away from the store. "For the most part…?"

The answer was simple. "Then we tell her straight up where we are going and why we want to."

"And what if she says no? You know my mom, you know how she goes through those 'I don't believe in fairy tales, that isn't where I'm from' times." He mimicked his mother's voice very badly.

"Then we kidnap her and throw her in the trunk of the car." Sophie told him, jumping out of the car. "Now come on!"

"Who are you?" Henry whispered to her as the two made their way into the store.

"That isn't that important right now, Henry. Now let's do this so we can go home." She said, grabbing a cart.

An hour and a half later the two walked back into the house, each carrying a few grocery bags full of stuff for dinner tonight, which Sophie had vowed to make.

"Anyone else find it oddly quiet?" She whispered to Henry as the bags were placed on the kitchen counter.

He nodded in reply, noticing there wasn't a single sound to be heard inside. "Mom's outside." He offered as he started to put away the frozen and cold food. "Nathan's probably out there with her."

She noticed her blonde haired best friend sitting on the small beach by herself. It didn't take a rocket scientist to see that she wasn't sitting there for the sun—just a very smart best friend.

"I'll be back, okay?" She told Henry before making the short walk to the water slowly and quietly, carefully sitting down and pulling Emma into her side before speaking. "What's wrong?"

"I told him." She managed to whisper through the silent sobs her body was putting out.

"You told him what?" Emma could almost hear her mother's voice in Sophie's.

"The truth about me, Henry told me that you know, I don't know how much but that you know about my parents and the prophecy. So I figured since everyone else in the house knew, it was time for him to be let in on the secret." Emma took a second to breathe. "He thinks I'm crazy, and I'm pretty sure he's inside calling somebody to have me committed right now."

"Emma, I doubt he is trying to have you committed." The brunette tried to comfort her friend. "He wouldn't do that…I would kick his ass." She could hear a small laugh come from Emma.

Henry could see the two women outside, his mother being comforted for something by his godmother, which made him wonder even more who Sophie really was. As he watched he heard someone walk into the kitchen behind him.

"Nathan?" Henry turned to see his mother's fiancée with his duffle bag in hand. "What are you doing?"

"Henry, I need you to answer me truthfully okay?" He said, dropping his bag and walking over to kneel down to eye level with the ten year old.

"Answer what truthfully?" Henry was worried by the look in Nathan's eyes.

"Do you ever feel that you aren't safe with your mother?" He asked, placing a hand on each of Henry's shoulders.

"What are you talking about?" Henry questioned, not sure as to why he would be asking this.

"Answer me, please, Henry." He demanded. "Do you feel safe with your mother, do you feel safe with Emma?"

Henry thought quickly. "Mom told you about her past didn't she?"

"Henry, I will fight for you. You can stay with me. We can track down your father. Or if you want I will fight for custody of you." His sentences were short with worry.

"Henry? Nathan? What's going on?" Emma asked, seeing the two as she came inside with Sophie in tow. "Nathan!" She quickly yelled when she recognized what was going on. The scene before her reminded her of the time she ran away and begged her brother to come with her. She knew what he was trying to do. "You leave him out of this! Henry has nothing to do with this, this is between you and me, Nathan!"

"Emma, what's wrong?" Sophie asked calmly, confused as to why Emma was now yelling.

"He's trying to take Henry away!" She couldn't help but continue to yell.

"Emma, maybe it's what's best for him." She watched the words come out of her fiancée's mouth almost in slow motion as he stood, feeling Sophie's arms wrap around her shoulders before she could pounce on him.

"He is my son! If you think that I would let him be in any situation that puts him in harm's way then you don't know me at all!" She yelled, fighting against Sophie's grip on her.

"Nathan, do you remember my grandmother?" Henry asked calmly, ignoring his mother's outburst.

"What?" Nathan looked down.

"Do you remember my grandmother, Mary Margaret?" He asked again, seeing his mother calming a little bit at the mention of her mother.

"Of course I do, Henry." He looked at the boy carefully. "Why?"

"Come on." Henry grabbed his arm and led him to the stairs and into his bedroom. "I have always felt safe with my mother, no matter what. When times were bad, mom was always there, it's how her mother raised her and my Uncle August. It was how my she grew up." He began to tell the story as he dug through his backpack. "My grandmother was young when her mother died. And when her father remarried, her step mother didn't like her at all so she ran away. My grandmother became a very tough and persistent person. She met my grandfather while living on her own, and the two fell in love, to cut the story short. They got married and when my grandmother was pregnant with my mom she had to run away while her husband stayed behind to make sure she got away from people that were after them. She moved to a foreign place while very pregnant with her young son, without her husband or anybody else she knew."

Nathan could hear similarities in what Emma had told him earlier and the story Henry had just shared. "What does this have to do with anything, Henry?"

"What my mom told you isn't just a fairy tale, Nathan. It isn't easy to believe, but it's true." He finally found the fairy tale book he was looking for and turned to the page with a very pregnant Snow White getting ready to climb into the wardrobe. "Look," Henry pointed to her. "Who do you see in this picture?"

"I see a woman climbing into a tree." He replied simply, not really looking.

"Look at the woman's face." Henry asked of him. "Put your fingers over the picture so that it looks like she has short hair. That woman is my grandmother, Snow White is Mary Margaret. It isn't easy to believe but it's true."

Nathan looked again, putting his fingers on the page like Henry had asked. He could admit that he saw very distinct similarities to Emma's mother in the picture. And the man with Snow White in the illustration had similarities to Emma, but he still had doubts.

"I'm not asking you to suddenly believe, Nathan." Henry said. "It took my grandma twenty six years to get my mom to believe, and even then she still doubted it. I am just asking that you try to open up your mind to the possibility." He all but begged.

Emma and Sophie stood in the kitchen talking as Henry and Nathan spoke upstairs.

"Emma, Henry will convince Nathan." Sophie tried to reassure her closest friend.

"I can't lose him, Sophie." Emma expressed, holding her head up in her hands which were sitting on the counter. She was just barely calm enough to not storm up there and straight up punch Nathan. "It would be worse than losing Neal all over again, and I can't do that."

"You won't lose him. You won't lose either of them, because Henry will accomplish what he set out to do." She reiterated.

As the two said almost the exact same things over and over they each made sure to listen for voices upstairs, just to make sure Henry was still there.

After about an hour the two made their way down stairs again.

"Emma, can we talk outside?" Nathan asked calmly, his demeanor very different from before.

She nodded, leading him out the back door and to the end of the dock to sit.

"So did you get him to believe?" Sophie asked as she and Henry watched to make sure nobody was pushed into the water.

"No." Henry answered. "But I got him to open his mind to the possibility, which is good enough for now." He smiled a bit at his accomplishment.

_Please review and let me know what you think! :)_


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